Vice president Yemi Osinbajo has slammed claims that president Buhari favoured the northerners more in his political appointments.
In an interview with journalists and social media practitioners in Lagos on Friday, Osinbajo debunked all nepotism claims against the Buhari Administration.
With the release of his interview transcript released to State House correspondents on Sunday, the vice president noted that Buhari’s cabinet comprised 20 Christians and 18 Muslims.
“Look at the cabinet, for example, from the point of view of the 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, Â we have 20 Christians to 18 Muslims; that’s the structure of the cabinet. So, Â if you take that narrative you may argue that perhaps the Christian have the upper hand; that’s a possible narrative”.
He continued;
“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  assigning particular portfolios he does (have a choice). 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 & 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 his state (i.e VP’S 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. Â 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.”
