The senator representing Borno South Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Ali Ndume, has called on President Bola Tinubu to address the growing concerns on alleged lopsided appointments in his administration.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme on Friday, Ndume criticised the President for what he described as a clear violation of the Federal Character principle enshrined in the Constitution.
According to him, several key positions in Tinubu’s government have been concentrated in favour of a particular region, leaving other parts of the country underrepresented.
He warned that such imbalance could deepen political discontent and fuel opposition coalitions against the President and the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Ndume, a ranking APC Senator, stressed that inclusive governance is key to national unity and democratic stability.
He said, “Seventy-two appointees of Tinubu are Yorubas, I’m not talking about North or South. Section 14 (3) is clear and it says that appointments into political positions should be spread in such a way that no tribe is left out. The constitution says that everybody should have a sense of belonging.
“You know why I came out with this, it because I’m thinking that the President is not quite aware of this, it is not deliberate. Now that he (Tinubu) is two years into it and for now his appointment is lopsided, no argument about it, but it can be corrected and it should be corrected. I hope that they will see this as a wakeup call. I criticised Buhari on his lopsided appointment of service chiefs, I even confronted him on that and he gave me the reasons.”
Ndume said President Tinubu and the APC should be worried about the growing political coalition against him.
He stated, “Every vote matters. One of the grievances of some APC members against Tinubu is that they feel they have been abandoned like El-Rufia said. Many people are not happy because they feel they do not have access to the President and instead of the Presidency to address this, they come back to abuse these people on the pages of newspapers and this is very dangerous.