The first Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Olorunfunmi Basorun, says President Muhammadu Buhari has been good to the South-West in the area of appointments.
Basorun, who also served as the Lagos State Commissioner for Education during the administration of former Governor Lateef Jakande, said this during an interview with our correspondent on Tuesday.
Some Yoruba leaders, including Senator Femi Okunrounmu, had berated Buhari for his lopsided appointments.
However, Basorun said some of the biggest appointments have gone to the Yoruba.
Basorun, who is the founding chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos State, noted that the three highest revenue earners of the country were oil, taxation and customs.
He said Buhari did well by appointing a Yoruba man, Babatunde Fowler, to head the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
He added that Buhari put tribal sentiments aside and lobbied African leaders to support the immediate past Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, to emerge as the President of the African Development Bank despite the fact that Adesina was former President Goodluck Jonathan’s minister.
He said, “Buhari has not marginalised the Yoruba. He has been very good to us. Even while he was the President-elect, he started by supporting Adesina to be the President of the AfDB. He then appointed Fowler to head the FIRS. Someone who heads the organisation that will make money for the government is very important. It is not the number of appointments that matters.
“In any case, he has just started and he is going to make well over 1,000 appointments. So, there is no marginalisation. He is going to appoint 36 ministers which will be spread across the 36 states. It is stated in the constitution. After that, several boards will be constituted and there will be appointments into those boards.
“When it comes to appointment into his ‘kitchen cabinet’, Buhari has to choose those he can trust to be his Chief of Staff and his spokesperson and Femi Adesina is one of them. The other appointments have to do with his security.”
Basorun said he was surprised that Jonathan had been boasting about Akinwunmi Adesina but failed to acknowledge that if Adesina did not get Buhari’s support, he most likely would not have been appointed President of the AfDB.
Punch