It’s a possible narrative that Christians, not Muslims, have the upper hand in Buhari Administration – Yemi Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has decried all allegations of nepotism against the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, Punch reports.

Speaking to journalists and social media influencers in Lagos State, Osinbajo said the appointments made by Buhari suggest that Christians, and not Muslims, have the upper hand in the administration.

The south-west has for itself critical appointments, Osinbajo said, including one minister handling Power, Works and Housing.

4 of 5 south-eastern states have senior ministers, Osinbajo continued, as opposed to 7 in the North which do not. He said:

Look at the cabinet, for example, from the point of view of religion, it has an equal number – 18 Christians, 18 Muslims; but, we have the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as well as the Head of Service who are Christians. So, we have 20 Christians to 18 Muslims; that’s the structure of the cabinet. So, if you take that narrative you may argue that perhaps the Christians have the upper hand; that’s a possible narrative.

Let us look a little deeper into that, so there are those who may argue, for example, that the North has an upper hand or perhaps one section has an upper hand in the cabinet as one narrative.

The South-East, for example, has five states. Four of the south-eastern states have senior ministers; all of them, except one, who is Minister of State for Education.

In the North, seven northern states have no senior minister, including the President’s home state, Katsina. Now, there are those who will say, if you are nepotistic; surely seven northern states have no senior minister. It’s a narrative depending on how you want to run it.

I give you another example; I’m from the South-West. There are people who will say ‘I am from the South-West, the North has everything.’ The South-West, for the first time in the history of this country, has one minister who is in charge of three ministries: Power, Works and Housing. The ministers of Finance and Communications are also from the South-West. These are critical ministries. You can run the narrative in whichever way that you choose.

There are those who will say, for instance, look at the number of CEOs of agencies of government; the highest number of CEOs in our nation today comes from Ogun State, the state has the largest number. There are those who will say that’s my state. So you can run the narrative depending on how you want to run it.

The president has admitted that, yes there are situations where you can find certain things as true and he intends to have a look at that.  For example, you’ve given the example of security positions and he said he is going to take a look at look at it. I believe that is the way to go because you can run any narrative that will suit the figures you are showing. And that is where we have legal process. There are people who don’t know that the number of CEOs from Anambra State are more than the number of CEOs from Katsina State or anywhere else, except Ogun.