Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA), the legislative arm of Arewa Youths Forum, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that he spreads the appointment into his next cabinet evenly across the country.
It said the call became necessary following the criticism that greeted the appointments made by President Buhari in his first term, where some regions and groups alleged lopsided appointment.
The Youths in a rally held on Thursday in Abuja called on the President to look beyond party affiliation and appoint people who are competent and will also represent the various regions and groups in the country.
The Speaker of AYA, Mohammed Salihu Danlami, while addressing journalists, said: “What the nation requires is mature nationalistic leadership that will accommodate all Nigerians and provide an all-inclusive fair treatment for all the divergent groups in the country on the basis of equality and fairness to everybody.
“As we approach the evenings of this tenure and are set for the commencement of the second tenure, we cannot but lend our voices to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that enemies of our collective forward voyage as a nation are not given any excuse to embark on their adversarial stock in trade.
“It is on this note that we herein use this medium to call on Mr President to ensure the even distribution of appointments in the next government that will be formed post-May 29th. Appointments in the Security Services, Ministerial Positions, Headship of Agencies and all such related appointments which require the intervention of the President.”
The youth group warned President Buhari against those who would want to misdirect him by advising that appointments should be based on the number of votes he got from each state and region.
“We are not unaware of the fact that those who thrive at dissent and national division are already spinning their yarn of misdirection and calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to make appointments based on the votes he got from the respective States and Regions.
“This position is totally antithetical to national integration, cohesion and unity. We, therefore, call on President Buhari to discountenance such negative calls that are not in the interest of the nation and ensure that these appointments are distributed equitably across the geopolitical zones on the basis of merit.
“An even spread of appointments is the surest key to national unity as this will silence the voice of those calling for secession,” Danlami said.
“We call on Mr President to place the nation first and above all other interests. Those that approach the plough board of national service with religious, regional or tribal sentiments should be shoved out the window.
“No region will be happy if they are consigned to the backwaters of our national leadership affairs. Inclusive governance, on the other hand, will unite the whole nation and thus no region will fold her arms and watch while crisis engulfs another region as we will see ourselves as one indivisible entity.
“Equity and equality is the surest tool for nation-building and National Unity. On a united front we will more easily be able to combat the challenges that confront us as a nation particularly the challenge of insecurity that brings in its wake underdevelopment and poverty,” he added.
