Civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has condemned the recent reported lopsided recruitment by the Department of State Security (DSS) and promotions that favour one section of the country, the Hausa/Fulani Moslems, since the inception of the current administration of Muhammadu Buhari which offends federal character principles.

In a statement on behalf of the group signed by Comrade Emmanuel Onwubuiko, National Coordinator and Miss Zainab Yusuf, Director, National Media Affairs it noted: “Section 14(3) of the 1999 Constitution provides that the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few state or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies.

“However, in a continued flagrant disregard to these provisions, the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has seen deep seated Northern domination of all strategic federal recruitments and appointments including the recent secret uneven recruitment into the Department of State Security Services by the Director General; Yusuf Bichi that could overfill the security agency with personnel from the Northern part of Nigeria.

“According to revelations from media reports, official documents and contributions of senior intelligence officials showed that the North had a massive share of the roughly 1,300 Nigerians currently undergoing cadet training at two different camps of the secret police in Lagos and Bauchi.

“According to recruitment filings, of the total 628 cadet trainees, who had resumed at the Bauchi facility as of September 23, 535 identified themselves as trainees joining the service from either the North-East or the North-West. Only 93 were from the South-East, South-South, South-West or North-Central.

“More worrisome is that findings also showed that at least 71 of those currently undergoing cadet training hailed from Bichi Local Government Area, Kano State; the Director-General’s home local government area.

“Another concern is the appointment of candidates from Northern states of Kwara and Taraba as chairman, and secretary respectively of the Federal Character Commission (FCC); a commission saddled with the responsibility to drive the process and implementation of the federal character principle. This is not only unnationalistic and divisive in approach but negates the principle for which the commission was established.

“Then, instead of the then outgoing acting Chairman, Mallam Shettima handing over to the most senior Commissioner who happened to be a southerner, he was directed to hand over to Secretary Mohammed Tukur,” the statement said, adding, “at the end, another northerner, Abdullahi Shinkafi was again appointed after that as the acting Chairman of the Commission.”

The statement further added that, “with the composition of the present Police hierarchy, it can be safely concluded that the entire police leadership of the country is in the hands of the North-West, which falls short of both regional and federal balance.

“The Chairman of the Police Trust Fund board; Suleiman Abbah and the Executive Secretary; Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto, are both from the North-West of the country. Also, two other members of the eight-man team, Mansur Ahmed and Usman Bilkisu, are from Kano and Kebbi states respectively in the same region.

“It can be safely concluded then that the entire Police architecture is being dangerously tilted in favour of one zone of the country as the Minister of Police Affairs; Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi is as well from the North-West. Aso in PENCOM, the President Muhammadu Buhari violated extant laws by naming a Northerner as Chairman to replace a South Easterner whose tenure was truncated,” HURIWA noted.

The rights group maintained that this government has consistently violated one of the most ingenious and ambitious affirmative action entrenched in the constitution to promote national unity, uniquely named Federal Character.

“As the nation marks Independence Day on October 1st 2020, Nigerians are now more than ever divided alongside Ethno Religious platforms no thanks to the extremist PRO-northern Muslim tendencies and character of the Buhari’s civilian regime.

“We will continue to mince no words in warning that Nigeria has become dangerously polarised and risk sliding into crises of epic proportions on account of the current administration’s lopsided recruitments, appointments and promotions that continue to give undue preference to some sections of the country over others. Nowhere is this more glaring than in the leadership cadre of our security services.

“Yusuf Bichi’s regional recruitment agenda, which came three years after his predecessor implemented a similar hiring process that failed to reflect Nigeria’s diversity is another consistent negation of a critical national consensus and should be resisted and rejected by all well-meaning Nigerians.

“If according to the establishing Decree 19 of the National Security Agencies Act of 1986 and the SSS instrument I of 1999 Presidential Proclamation, the Department of State Security is the organisation assigned to primarily perform the role of Nigeria’s intelligence agency, the audacity of focusing on one part of the country to bring in new cadets offends our national unity and has long term implications.

“Therefore we are by this statement calling for an outright cancellation and for a fresh recruitment that would reflect the federal character principle to be conducted,” the group said.

“We have it from a good authority that as Yakubu Mahmood's controversial five years tenure as the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission ends in December, there is a plot to name President Buhari’s niece; Amina Zakari, who is a commissioner in INEC as his replacement.”

HURIWA also recommended that INEC chairmanship vacancy should be advertised now and Nigerians from all over the World be shortlisted and the most competent three be invited to take written, aptitude and security tests and screenings from where the best will be picked as substantive chairman.

“The current INEC chair whose tenure is almost over is the most compromised and incompetent electoral manager globally and we are listing him in the human rights hall of infamy for conducting the highest number of inconclusive, rigged and annulled elections in the electoral history of Africa.

“One very huge problem Nigeria is facing in the implementation of the federal character principle since this current administration in the Commission itself.

“The appointment of the Chairman and Secretary violated Section 4 of the subsidiary legislation which states that the distribution of position shall be across the zones. This has been the tradition that Chairman and Secretary are from the North and South respectively. This is the same reason past Governments including that of Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan had appointed Northerners as Chairmen and Southerners as Secretaries.

“The principle cannot be implemented in other agencies and bodies of the government if it is not upheld in the commission that is supposed to drive the process,” the statement declared.

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