IPAC criticises Tinubu’s appointments, says president favours South West

The Interparty Advisor Council (IPAC) has criticised the appointments made by President Bola Tinubu since assuming office, saying that they favoured the South Western part of Nigeria.

National chairman of IPAC, Sani Yabagi stated this on Thursday while speaking on Channels Television SunRise daily program.

Yabagi stated that it was disappointing that President Tinubu who is known to be a Democrat was following the appointment pattern of his predecessor, Muhammed Buhari by giving undue advantage to the people of his region.

He pointed out that appointments in Nigeria must meet the federal character principle considering the size and homogeneous state of the country.

“We at IPAC expected that the President would demonstrate the democrat which he is.

“That is why we have noticed that appointments under President Bola Tinubu are tailored toward a certain particular region, which is the South West.

“We saw the same thing during the Muhammadu Buhari administration and we could not do anything about it, but it is happening now.

“We expected something different from Tinubu because he is a democrat but the reverse is the case now.

“The constitution has given the President power to appoint people but how does he carry others along? There is nobody that can do it rather than President Tinubu who has lived all his life as a democrat.

In recent weeks, there has been growing criticism of President Tinubu’s appointments, which observers say favours the South West region where he hails from.

Analysts say key positions in Tinubu’s cabinet and agencies are given to political associates or people from his region, they noted that the President has fallen into the same nepotistic mistake of the immediate past president, by surrounding himself with people from the South West.

Speaking in a statement recently by its national Coordinator Emmanuel Onwubiko, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) accused President Tinubu of partiality, saying that most of the key appointments in his cabinet were apportioned to Individuals from his ethnic group.

The group said the President’s appointments have shown he appears to have special consideration for people from his region especially those with links to Lagos State.