In this interview with ENIOLA AKINKUOTU, human rights lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, speaks about President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments

You are from the South-South. Why have you come out to defend President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointments which are largely in favour of the North?

I am not a tribalist. If I was, I wouldn’t have campaigned for Buhari. I just wanted the best for Nigeria. I agree that some of the best brains are from the South while some of the best are from the North. We have brains everywhere. However, why people are clamouring for these positions that have just been filled is that people see them as juicy positions and this is my problem.

About 95 per cent of the positions are yet to be filled. Buhari has filled just about five per cent of positions. For me, no government position is different from the other and that is the ideal situation. We should not classify some positions as more beneficial than others because that is a euphemism for corruption.

It is a euphemism to say that some positions are better than others. People were clamouring for the position of Secretary to the Government of Federation and Chief of Staff because in the past, the Peoples Democratic Party turned those positions into money-making machines. Nigerians have seen the ostentatious lifestyles that others who have occupied these positions have lived. And the nation allowed them to get away with those crimes. And yet we say we want a change. We must begin to change our orientation.

So, we are saying that we cannot make a holistic assessment until the President fills all these positions. For those positions he has filled, they are supposed to be occupied by those who are personally loyal to the President. I do not expect him to leave those positions to be filled by his political party. For example, you cannot say the chief of staff should be someone that is loyal to a power bloc in his party. That kind of person would close everyday from work, pick his telephone, and report all the activities of the President to his political camp.

That would not be fair because that kind of person would not be loyal to the President but by the person who nominated him for that office. There are many positions that the political party can fill that will not have direct access to the itinerary and activities of the President. That is why I said people should be calm. There are ministerial positions to be filled, heads of agencies and many others.

We must change our orientation such that any appointment given to anybody from any part of the country must be accepted with dignity and pride and patriotism. The argument is that certain ethnic groups have seen some positions as being exclusive to them. They argue that since the presidency has gone to the North and some positions have gone to some other geopolitical zones, the next one must come to them. The clamour is because they see these as hierarchies of juicy positions and I say no.

Is it coincidental that the South-East, where Buhari got low number of votes, has not received any political appointment?

Buhari got the lowest number of votes from the South-South. But as I said, the appointments are not yet complete. You say he has not appointed any Igbo but the biggest position so far has gone to an Igbo man: Emmanuel Kachikwu who is the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. It is just by modern political divide that the man falls within Delta State but he is a Delta Igbo. They speak Igbo. It is only by political delineation that he falls within Delta State but there are Igbo speaking Deltans.

He is an Igbo man but only on the other side of the Niger. He is not an Urhobo man. What language does he speak? Is it not Igbo? So what are we talking about? That is the biggest position and they have it already. So, you can see that all this noise is being made by frustrated and jobless politicians who just want to use ethnicity to get juicy positions. It is orchestrated. We the elite should not be moved by this noise and selfish agenda. Imagine a whole ethnic group campaigning for a position! Initially, they said chief of staff, then SGF. Now, with all the noise they have been making since May 29, imagine if one person from that region is appointed to that position.

That person will then see himself as a champion of his ethnic group and his kinsmen will descend on that office in the area of contracts and gifts. He will destroy the sanctity of that office and turn it into a political chessboard because that person will see himself as representing a region in that position. It removes professionalism from that position. So, we should not campaign for offices on the basis of representing an ethnic bloc. Yes, every region will get appointments but once he is appointed, he should not see himself as representing that ethnic group but the whole country.

But Section 13 of the constitution states that the composition of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity.


Yes, I agree but the government has not been fully composed. Is it the SGF and chief of staff that constitute the government? So what is the noise all about? Five per cent of all appointments have not even been made. All these noises would have been valid if positions had been filled and it is lopsided. What if the next 10 appointments made are all Igbo? Wouldn’t those people castigating the government look foolish?

Do you think these fears are misplaced in the light of Buhari’s statement that constituencies where he didn’t get many votes would not be treated equally with areas where he got many votes?

It is very simple. It doesn’t mean that they would be schemed out. But if he says that, it is his prerogative. If the President says he will leave certain sensitive positions to certain areas because those ones directly have to do with his security and if he leaves these other positions to a certain area, what is wrong with that? It is the President’s prerogative. Like I said, all appointments should be received with dignity and pride. That is why he is the President.

The constitution states that each of the 36 states must produce a minister. However, you have said that all the appointments could be made at different times in order to save costs. Do you think this would be wise in the light of the recent allegations of marginalisation?

I believe that our priority as a people should not be appointments but conservation of national resources. If I know that a minister is supposed to be appointed from my state but the President is making appointments in bits because we cannot afford 36 ministers at the same time, why shouldn’t I make the sacrifice because by the time it is the turn of my state to produce the minister, another state would not have.

That is balancing and nothing is wrong with that. If for two years, a person from Delta is heading a ministry and within that same period, Edo State doesn’t have a minister and after sometime, the role is reversed such that Edo has a minister and Delta does not have, is that not equity? But the real issue is that people cannot wait to touch public funds and that is why they are complaining.

http://www.punchng.com/politics/igbo-has-best-appointment-under-buhari-keyamo/

Maybe Keyamo is Yoruba too?laughing.

Aareonakakanfo:

He's a yellowbar man fathered by awusa Fulani

Mothered by an Ibo woman.

Cousined by an Ijaw man.

Nephewed by an Isoko man.

[quote author=Ilekeh post=37749331]

Mothered by an Ibo woman.

Cousined by an Ijaw man.

Nephewed by an Isoko man.



ilekeh kilode. yeye ma ni mo n se

Aareonakakanfo:
ilekeh kilode. yeye ma ni mo n se

Answer this simple question: when you look in the mirror, do you see a normal or flat head?

Truly these noises are make by frustrated and jobless politicians who want to use ethnicity to get juicy position. In such a manner they whip their gullible & ethnic apologists who are their primary victims of their oppression & subjugation to toll their lines.
What people fails to understand is that no man can share his salary with you upon his appointment whether he is from your place or not. If the origin of appointees is so of a great importance them the North Western Nigeria should be the most developed either human or infrastructure wise. You may even stand to benefit from an outsider than your brother, for a bad brother is not as good as a good friend.

Time..they say will........

Aareonakakanfo:

Hanhan beht wetin i do you na. why is my fellow yoruba sister giving me sliding tackle,i was just joking jor.

haha I'm not attacking you. Peace!

am sure my wailing wailers will avoid commenting on this thread

lol

Aareonakakanfo:




Beht why did you call me flat head na.honestly that made me cry

Hmmmm

Ilekeh:


haha I'm not attacking you. Peace!

You and your man - friend trying to derail this thread (truth)?

Keyamo patronizing the government to see if he cld be considered for an appointment,since he has now perpetually lost out in being a (SAN)senior advocate of Nigeria for quiet some years now......i gave up on him when he defended Sylva,the corrupt ex-Governor of Bayelsa in court against charges of corruptn brought against him by EFCC.

Sylva being an APC chieftain got the charges against him dropped immediately PMB took over helm of affairs of Nigeria. I wonder if all these 'latter days saints' in APC,have moral justification to talk about intergrity and corruption. They can only mess around with gullible Nigerians who have choosen to develop selective amnesia.

good

This issue has been overdiscussed na, Yes HE IS IGBO..
He be Onicha Ugbo man in Aniocha north, while am from Aniocha south, na the same axis. An intelligent technorat is the man.. Dr Ibe will be our first governor in Anioma State when it comes.

Keyamo, please let's think of the growth of this great nation

Not appointments !!!

I love you tho, no homo

Fulfill campaign promises not appointments

I don't care about his appointments, all I needed him do is to make this country liveable & conducive

Igbo's have this hatred for anything or anybody that is not of igbo extraction. That is why the nickname Nigerian jews befits them perfectly.
Secondly even if Buhari gives all the ministerial slots to the southeast they will never support his goverment. Because their hatred is not born out of the fact that they want good governance or a better Nigeria or beleive in the same principle of federal character they are shouting about or the unity of Nigeria (hypocracy of the highest order).
Igbo's should play opposition. besides even if igbo's are not given a single top position heaven will not fall and buhari will be re-elected again in 2019 without their votes.
Igbo's are not the largest or the most important ethnic group in Nigeria. So trying to please them is for me is a waste of time. Let them wail cry or whatever infact even secede Nigeria will continue to succeed with or without them.

Story story,that he speaks igbo does not make him an igbo man.(asj an ikwerre man)thou i hail delta igbos they are proud of their heritage.

In those deluded nyanmiris's voice, "keyamo is yoloba". Awon werey!

keyamo my guy..... You never fit enter warri again since tompolo say him go flog u with water cane and koboko if him see u again for warri.....

Haha,kenyamo abi dynamo do you think we are like the gullibles that can be scammed and used at anytime.
You beta kupu ya dia

But the real issue is that people cannot wait to touch public funds and that is why they are complaining.

Where are the greedy yanmiris...you hear what this man say?

God bless u Keyamo. These people need proper orientation. They re already used to corruption and it will take time to change that. No matter how Buhari tries to make things work, these people will sabotage him. I weep for Nigeria anytime I read their comments on nairaland and newspapers, they re so shallow minded that their reasoning faculty has been affected. Thank God that change has come. No matter what, the worst of PMB is still better than the best of GEJ. If they like, let them see if not it is their headache

Keyamo,this is your version,
I'm waiting for the wailers' version.

EastLebanon:
Haha,kenyamo abi dynamo do you think we are like the gullibles that can be scammed and used at anytime.
You beta kupu ya dia

So, you can
see that all this noise is being made by
frustrated and jobless politicians who just
want to use ethnicity to get juicy positions.

Are you one of them?