Fuss over Buhari's appointment: “I don't care if A'Ibom governor is a Muslim,” says A'Ibom man

By Nse Peter
An Akwa Ibom man resident in Louisiana, United States of America has expressed his indifference about where Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari picks members of his team from, as long as they perform their duty.

“I will always support performance mix with the fear of God rather than brotherhood mix with corruption and outright evilness,” says Daniel Umoh in a message he sent to Ibom Forum, an Akwa Ibom online group hoisted on Yahoo! Mr. Umoh was commenting on the controversy over the alleged lopsidedness of the President's appointments so far in favour of the predominantly muslim north.

Religion and ‘state of origin’ are considered as powerful factors in Nigerian politics, including appointment into public offices.

But Mr. Umoh said he’ll like to know what politicians from Akwa Ibom who had held national positions in the past brought back to the people, other than enriching themselves. 

Umoh’s position on the controversy over Buhari’s appointments represents a new thinking across Nigeria, influenced largely by the President’s ant-graft posture. But such thinking, nevertheless, is in the minority, as most Nigerians have faulted the President’s appointments as being in favour of the north alone where he comes from.

“I remember the argument sometime about Buhari being a Muslim and Jonathan being a Christian and my take on the issue was I don't care if my next governor is a Muslim or not as long as he or she performs.

“I will also look back in my state to realize that in the past eight years it was not a Muslim who was the governor when our people were killed and kidnapped and some of us could not travel home. It was our brother,” Umoh said.