Former Atiku Man Denounces El-Rufai On Tinubu’s ‘Yoruba Government’

Former Atiku Abubakar campaigner, Reno Omokri has blasted Mallam Nasir El-Rufai for ridiculing President Bola Tinubu over his appointments saying that categorising the government as Yoruba was a new low for the former governor.

GWG.ng reports that Omokri spoke after Mallam Nasir El-Rufai reacted in a post on X where he fumed against the former governor’s characterisation of the Bola Tinubu government as peopled by people of Yoruba origin.

Omokri who had prior to the 2019 election dubbed Peter Obi as one of the best persons to be president of Nigeria and subsequently taken a leading role in mobilising for Atiku Abubakar ahead of the 2023 presidential election is now reputed as one of the leading social media bouncers for the Tinubu administration.

Rebuffing Mallm El-Rufai’s denunciation of the Tinubu administration as a Yoruba government, Omokri posted thus:

Re: Calling The Tinubu Administration a Yoruba-Led Federal Government.

Dear Malam Nasir el-Rufai,

Calling the Tinubu-led government a “Yoruba-led administration” is a new low, even for you. Nobody, not even me, a major critic of the Buhari administration, called that 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.

In the interest of Nigeria’s unity, we did not do what you are now doing, preferring to respectfully draw the then President’s attention to the marginalisation of the Southeast and calling on him to address it.

And now, acting through a surrogate of yours, you are warning the Tinubu administration and describing it as a ‘Yoruba-led Federal Government’ just because you were not made a minister?

In case anyone wants to fall for your mischief, it may be necessary to restate what I have previously published, which is that it is a fallacy to call this administration a Yoruba-led government or insinuate that it favours the Southwest more than any other zone.

In addition to the Ministry of Defence, Nigeria has a total of twenty security and law enforcement agencies, including the Office of the National Security Adviser, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Airforce, the Nigerian Navy, the Nigerian Police Force, the Department of State Security, the Nigerian Intelligence Agency, the Defence Intelligence Agency, the Nigerian Immigration Service, the Nigerian Customs Service, the Nigerian Correctional Service ( formerly known as the Nigerian Prison Service), the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Federal Road Safety Commission, the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, the Federal Fire Service and the National Youth Service Corp, which unknown to most Nigerians is actually a reserve force that can be called up during emergencies.

The question is this: Of these twenty security and law enforcement agencies, how many are headed by persons of Lukumi Yoruba origin from the Southwest? The answer is only five: the Nigerian Army, the Police, Customs, the DSS, and the EFCC.

Their sponsored missive included the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nandap. But though she is Yoruba, her husband is from Plateau. According to the Federal Character Commission Establishment Act of 2010, she has a choice between choosing her father’s state or her husband’s state as her state of origin, and she was appointed based on Plateau being her husband’s state.

When you come to the revenue-generating agencies of the Federal Government, do note that the two biggest parastatals in Nigeria are the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and the Nigerian Ports Authority. Both are headed by Northern Muslims. The means to power in Nigeria is the Independent National Electoral Commission, which is also headed by a Northern Muslim.

Flowing from the above, Nasir, could you please respect your standing as a Malam and stick to the truth instead of spreading falsehoods about a so-called Yoruba dominance of governance in Nigeria?

President Tinubu runs a balanced government that gave each zone its due, and if you have evidence to the contrary, then please bring it to light instead of making broad statements that do not represent the reality.

GWG.ng reports that the defence of Tinubu by Omokri over the allegation of forming a government peopled by Yoruba in the top hierarchy is getting mixed reactions.

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