The National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), says it is too early to judge the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari based on about 40 out of 1000 appointments made so far.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, Mr Lai Mohammed, said he believes the President will make the right decisions on appointments and he will be gender-friendly.
He debunked reports that some members of the APC have expressed disappointments over the appointments made by the President, insisting that the party is happy about the appointment.
“”I also read online that some APC leaders who chose to remain anonymous, expressed dissatisfaction.
“But I can tell u that all the APC members are behind the President on the issue of this appointment,” he stressed.
He, however, disagreed what is being said about the National Chairman of the party, John Oyegun, that APC will be more involved in other appointments of the President.
“I read the full statement of the National Chairman of my party, and what he said was that, these are personal staff . It’s too early to make a judgment, you do not take part to be the whole.
Future appointments will be different but these are personal staff”, he said.
Talking about personal staff, Mr Mohammed said that “ I have been a Chief of Staff, and as the Chief of Staff, I was the first person the Governor saw in the morning and the last he saw at night almost on a daily basis.
“As the Chief of Staff, I was the link between the Governor’s personal and public life .
“You can’t choose anybody from any party for that kind of job. There must be a relationship between you and your principal which must be personal,” he maintained.
The National Publicity Secretary of the APC opined that the calculation and permutation by Nigerians on who the President will appoint is wrong.
“There should be no fixation on any particular office, going to any particular part of the country.
The fact that it went to a particular part of the country in the previous administration, does not mean it will go there in this present administration.”
He stressed that “what we should focus on is the assurance from the government that in the fullness of time, no part of this country will feel marginalised by the kind of appointments that would be made”.
Speaking about the role of social media in influencing the APC in making decisions on appointments, Mr Mohammed said that “as much as we are going to be a responsive government, clearly, we won’t be stampeded by any opinion to take a decision which clearly does not fit into our own vision”.
While giving his opinion about the future of youths in President Buhari’s administration, Mr Mohammed said that the entire manifesto of the APC is youth centered.
“We would have loved to take off from day one, but this thing needs planning, diligence,and what we met on ground is quite unsettling,” he said.
