By Ochereome Nnanna
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has been actively implementing his “97%/5% formula” since he assumed office. In his recent visit to America, he defined the formula as a “political reality” that must come to play, whereby Nigerians will be rewarded according to the quantum of votes they gave him during the elections. This president had, during his inauguration, pledged to be fair to all Nigerians with his aromatic sound bite: “I belong to everybody. I belong to nobody”.

His “97%/5%” formula for allocation of resources and positions in his government clearly runs contrary to “I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”. It says he belongs to some people and not to some. You do not have to look far to satisfy yourself that this formula is in operation. Buhari has appointed his personal staff, Service Chiefs and recently, a six-man advisory committee on anti-corruption. The vast majority of these appointees are Northern Muslims.

Prof Utomi

There are spicing of people from the South West and to a lesser extent, South-South. The South East, where he got the least number of votes, has not been favoured with the post of even a cleaner. I wonder how people like Governor Rochas Okorocha, Dr Chris Ngige, Chief BB Apugo and Chief George Moghalu feel among their fellow “broomites” in the All Progressives Congress (APC) while they are treated as if they do not matter.

PMB says the appointments he made so far are based on “merit”. Perhaps, that is why Northerners made the grade and not a single South Easterner did. You wonder the standard of “merit” that could possibly be at play, whereby a people with proven track records of dominant competitiveness will not find even a spot! You have no choice but to conclude that it has nothing to do with “merit” but a political fallback to the ignoble “97%/5%” formula.

Actually, this formula propounded by Buhari is a very old one, and that is a topic for another day. After the civil war, there was an unwritten policy of reducing the Igbo ethnic group to a “Minority” to ensure they do not threaten the powers that won the war again. I call it “minoritisation policy”. Virtually all the commanders on the federal side subscribed to this policy irrespective of tribe, section or religion. Even during his military rule, Buhari made the North dominant in his government, with today’s South East given a mere token mention.

True merit is never really followed. It is obvious what will happen if genuine merit is applied, for instance, in the allocation of seats to candidates for federal institutions such as schools, universities, civil service, military, security, customs, the diplomatic service and police. Suddenly, the criteria are turned the other way up: things like “population”, landmass, educationally disadvantaged and quota system will be dredged up.

Some of these problems were addressed during General Sani Abacha’s Constitutional Conference in 1994/95. Once and for all, the principle of “federal character” was agreed and eventually enshrined in the 1999 Constitution to ensure that every one of the six principal sections of the country is accommodated in the sharing of federal offices and resources. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) even made “zoning” part of their constitution and manifesto and operated it quite creditably throughout their sixteen-year reign.

The principle of federal character recognises the fact that in today’s Nigeria, no section is so educationally or otherwise backward that it cannot fill its own allotment, no matter the standard of merit employed.

Professor Pat Utomi, a university don, political economist, entrepreneur and former presidential candidate, knows better than to say that Buhari is “free” to choose all his officials from one village. I don’t know what he is eyeing. In this country, people say things depending on what they are eyeing or hoping for. It is very wrong for Utomi to endorse Buhari’s “97%/5%” formula in a country where the federal character principle is constitutionally guaranteed. It is incorrect for him to describe a policy to carry everybody along in a complex, plural society like ours as being “small and petty”.

When people from a part of the country dominate, it usually results in large-scale corruption and looting. There is more consanguine conspiracy. They see the government as their sectional property to use as they like because it is their time to “enjoy”. Those who are not represented have nobody to speak for them. This is the malady that the federal character principle seeks to address by ensuring that all eyes are on the table.

You cannot move the economy of Nigeria forward and fight corruption with people from only a section dominating with a few pickings from other parts thrown in. It is only when all Nigerians feel a sense of belonging that all hands will be combined to build the nation. That is what I expect a patriot like Utomi to remind Buhari of if he has the president’s ears.

No such village exists where Buhari can exclusively bring people of excellence and merit to revive the economy, defeat Boko Haram and fight corruption, unless you are referring to Village Nigeria. Buhari has a duty to give all Nigerians a sense of belonging. The presidential office he is occupying does not belong to a select group of Nigerians alone. It belongs to all of us. The resources he is dispensing everyday are principally derived from the Niger Delta but they belong to all of us.

The mandate Buhari is holding belongs to all of us, irrespective of how we voted. It is not his prerogative to marginalise any Nigerian. That would be unpatriotic and a big letdown. He is not “free” to do so as Pat Utomi erroneously asserted. It is Buhari’s duty and responsibility to govern Nigeria in the overall interest of all Nigerians, not a section thereof due to their close relationship and voting pattern.

Away with nepotism and marginalisation in Nigeria!