Has Tinubu ‘Yorubanised’ the government as claimed?

In their attempts to use the Tax Reform Bill to divide Nigeria, some prominent influencers have been engaged to gaslight Mutanen Arewa into believing that President Tinubu has ‘Yorubanised‘ the government.

That is not true. Elsewhere, I have written and presented facts that President Tinubu runs one of the most ethnically balanced governments since Nigeria returned to civil rule.

But my question to these inciters is why they were silent when President Buhari brazenly ran a sectional government. Under President Buhari, the President and head of the Executive, the Senate President and head of the Legislature, as well as the Chief Justice of Nigeria and head of the Judiciary, were all Northern Muslim males.

Additionally, under General Buhari, the heads of the following sensitive organisations were also simultaneously Northern Muslim males:

AGF

AMCON

Accountant General of the Federation

Airforce

Army

DIA

DMI

DSS

EFCC

FRSC

NCC

NHIS

NIS

NNPC

NPA

NPS

NSA

NTA

NUC

PTDF

Police

UBEC

Amongst many others.

President Tinubu is an astute politician. The President secured 2,652,824 votes from the Northwest, which is more than a hundred thousand votes more than the 2,542,979 he got from the Southwest.

President Tinubu won the #NigerianElections2023 in the North-central and Northwest. He only lost to Waziri Atiku in the Northeast.

There is no way a person as politically astute and aware as President Tinubu will be mindful of these facts and deliberately cheat Northern Nigeria. And he has not.

The two largest revenue-generating agencies of the Federal Government, the NNPC and NPA, are headed by Northerners under President Tinubu.

The head of the Nigerian Armed Forces and the most senior uniformed military officer in Nigeria is the Chief of Defence Staff, and under Tinubu, he is a Northerner.

There are twenty Military, Security, Police and Law Enforcement agencies in Nigeria. And twenty-one men head these agencies. Out of that twenty-one, only five bodies are headed by the Southwest. The bulk of that number rightfully goes to the Northwest, and that geopolitical zone also occupies the choicest portions.

Please find below a breakdown of these offices

Minister of Defence: Mohammed Abubakar NW

Minister of State for Defence: Bello Matawalle NW

National Security Adviser: Nuhu Ribadu NE

Chief of Army Staff: Major General Olufemi Olatubosun SW

Chief of Air Staff: Air Marshal Hasan Bala Abubakar NW

Chief of Naval Staff: Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla SE

Inspector General of Police: Kayode Egbetokun SW

Director General of the DSS: Adeola Ajayi SW

Director General of the NIA: Ambassador Mohammed Mohammed NC

Chief of Defence Intelligence: Major General Emmanuel Undiandeye SS

Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service: Kemi Nandap NC (by marriage)

Comptroller-General of Customs: Bashir Adewale Adeniyi SW

Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service: Haliru Nababa NW

Chairman, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency: Mohammed Buba Marwa NE

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission: Olanipekun Olukayode SW

Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission: Shehu Usman Mohammed NW

Commandant General Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps: Dr. Ahmed Abubakar Audi NC

Chairman Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission: Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu NW

CEO Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit: Hajiya Hafsat Bakari NE

Controller General of the Federal Fire Service: Engr. Jaji O. Abdulganiyu NC

Director-General National Youth Service Corps: Brig Gen YD Ahmed NW

From the list above, the Northwest of Nigeria has the lion’s share of leadership positions in the security sector with seven slots, keeping with their status as Nigeria’s most populated geopolitical region. They are followed by the Southwest, which, according to the National Population Commission, is Nigeria’s second most populous zone. The North-central comes next.

Patriotic and objective Nigerians can see that the list represents the fairest and most balanced security architecture leadership in Nigeria’s history ever, even as the Southeast, which did not have a seat in the joint chiefs of staff for eight years of the Buhari administration, now has one.

By Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. Ruffler of the Feathers of Obidents. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022.