Farooq Kperogi erred on “Lagos-centric Yorubaization of Nigeria”, by Reno Omokri

Farooq Kperogi is an intellectual, and a person with a background in academia ought to write and form opinions based on empirical evidence rather than hearsay, especially things one reads online.

To write a piece about President Tinubu’s so-called “Lagos-centric Yorubaization Of Nigeria” and base it solely on one set of appointments (a Census committee) does not give much credit to Mr Kperogi’s credentials as an academic.

This is not the first time Mr. Kperogi is getting it wrong. He and I have been on opposite sides of the TInubu certificate imbroglio, where I went to Chicago State University on September 19, 2022, to verify the truth directly from the source, while he relied on what he read and heard and came out with a piece stating that the then Presidential
candidate forged his diploma.

Fortunately for him, after I debunked that theory, the British Broadcasting Corporation did a fact-checking story and also agreed with me that there is no evidence that Asiwaju fuddled his certificate, forcing Mr. Kperogi to write a counter article indicating that his initial assessment was wrong.

The membership of one committee cannot establish tribalism. It is intellectually lazy and a hasty generalisation to make such a conclusion from just one alleged example, which is not even accurate.

Before making that allegation, you ought to look at appointments holistically. Especially as Nigeria has an Order of Precedence list.

All of this started because of the appointments to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, but people like Farooq Kperogi fail to appreciate that Bayo Ojulari is not only a Northerner from the North-Central but also of mixed ancestry, as are many people from Kwara.

The Chairman, Ahmadu Musa Kida, is also a solid Northerner.

It is very easy to cherry-pick positions in the Federal Government, such as the Chief Justice of Nigeria, over which the President has no control, and other civil service positions, which are not directly appointed by the President, to create a false impression that the President is favouring a certain section of the country.

But when you take appointments made by the President and weigh them according to their ranking on the National Order of Precedence of Public Officers and Other Persons, it becomes clear that President Bola Tinubu is perhaps one of Nigeria’s most accommodating leaders, especially when you compare him with his immediate predecessor.

If you look at the National Order of Precedence of Public Officers and Other Persons, after the President and his vice, the President of the Senate and other Legislative leaders, the Chief Justice of the Federation and other judicial officers, and the cabinet, the top appointive position in Nigeria is the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Under General Buhari, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation was Babachir Lawal and later Boss Mustapha, who were both Northerners like Buhari. Under Tinubu, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is Senator George Akume, a Northerner.

Next is the Office of the Head of the Civil Service. Buhari appointed Mrs. Folasade Yemi-Osan from the North-central, while President Tinubu named Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack from the South-South to man that helm.

Then, you have the service chiefs and the heads of the various security and paramilitary agencies.

Please find below a breakdown of these offices

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 above list, where is Lagos or the Southwest dominant?

You do not make comparisons in isolation. You make them in juxtaposition with what obtained in the past.

I will now compare and contrast these appointments with those made by President Tinubu’s immediate predecessor:

Under Buhari Under Tinubu

Defence North North
AGF North South
AMCON North South
Airforce South North
Army North South
CDS South North
DIA North South
DMI North North
DSS North South
EFCC North South
FFS North North
FRSC North North
ICPC North North
Navy North South
NCC North North
NCS North South
NDLEA North North
NFIU North North
NHIS North North
NIS North North
NNPC North North
NPA North North
NPS North North
NSA North North
NSCDC North North
NTA North North
NUC North North
NYSC North North
PTDF North North
Police North South
UBEC North South

I have done for Mr. Farooq Kperogi what he failed to do, using the Order of precedence list to the best of my capacity.

The truth is that the Northwest has dominated President Tinubu’s appointments precisely because it is the most populous geopolitical zone in Nigeria. When you read the enabling law setting up the Federal Character Commission, population is one of the factors you take into account when fulfilling the Federal Character principle.

27% of Nigeria’s population is from the Northwest, and 20% is from the Southwest. In addition, the Southwest is by far the most educated part of Nigeria. Therefore, these two regions will dominate in any government built on merit and federal character.

Under General Buhari, you could rightly say that the Federal Government was Katsina-centric because Muhammadu Buhari was so brazen that his niece, Amina Zakari, was a Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission, with over fifty key Federal Government top jobs going to the President’s state under Buhari including:

CBN MPC: Aliyu Rafindadi
Chairman NRC: Usman Sandamu
Code of Conduct: Murtala Kankia
DG DSS: Lawal Daura
DG FRCN: Mansur Liman
DG NHIS: Prof. Usman Yusuf
DG NIA: Ahmad Rufai
DG SMEDAN: Dikko Radda
ES PPPRA: Abdulkadir Umar
FAAN: Salisu Nura
INEC Commissioner: Amina Zakari
MD FERMA: Nurudeen Rafindadi
MD FMB: Ahmad Dangiwa
MD NIMET: Prof. Abubakar Mashi
MD NPA: Hadiza Usman
NIMASA: Gambo Mahuta
Presidential Doctor: Dr. Shuaib Rafindadi

Calling the Tinubu-led government a “Lagos-centric Yorubaization Of Nigeria” is a provocative falsehood that could unleash ethnic tensions and undermine democracy in a delicately fragile multiethnic, multicultural multi religious nation like Nigeria.

As virulently opposed to Buhari as I was, I never called his government a ‘Fulani led’ or ‘Northern led’ government, even though, for the first time in Nigeria’s history, the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary, with the President, Senate President and Chief Justice, as well as the Ministry of Defence, the National Security Adviser’s office, Army, Airforce, Police, DSS, DMI, DIA, NIA and the EFCC were all headed by Arewa.

We did not call that administration an ‘Arewa-led’ junta even after General Buhari used duress to force the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onoghen, a Southerner, to step down for a Northerner, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, who proved at his Senate screening that he did not understand what a legal technicality meant.

I, therefore, appeal to Farooq Kperogi to be measured and circumspect in his use of hyperbole to communicate his opinions.

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. 21st Most Talked About Person in Africa, 2024.