Top 11 shocking quotes from Femi Aribisala on president Buhari's government

Femi Aribisala

Editor’s note: Femi Aribisala, a scholar, international affairs expert and iconoclastic church pastor in Lagos, was a guest on Channels TV morning show, Sunrise Daily. Renowned author is known for airing controversial opinions and for criticizing the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

This time Aribisala took a swipe at the Nigerian leader saying that the problem with the country is Muhammadu Buhari.

Read top 11 takeaways from the show below:

1.“The president himself, in his public utterances before he became president, identified that there is a north and a south, he told us that the Boko haram was a southern conspiracy against the north.

“Some governors left the PDP because they insisted on a northern government, so we cannot now, pretend that the concept of the north does not exist.

2. “The problem with Nigeria today is the president, because he is not sufficiently sensitive to the plurality of Nigeria.

“So you have this lopsidedness in terms of his pronouncements, in terms of his appointments, and it stirs up all kinds of tendencies that would not have been there. There were all kinds of problems before the president came, but he has exacerbated them, he has worsened them.”

3. “The president is talking change, he needs to change. He has not changed since his first coming. In his inauguration he made a fantastic speech that he belonged to nobody and belonged to everybody, but then his actions thereafter didn’t back this up.”

4. “For a very long time, we just had appointments and appointments that were northern appointments, why, why was he doing that? Beyond that, his kitchen cabinet is northern; his personal staff is predominantly northern. The security apparatus is basically dominated by northerners, it is not right.

5. “The South/South and South/East feel that they are excluded. The Igbos for instance feel they have been excluded from so many posts. There is no balancing in Buhari’s appointments, his appointments are lopsided, and it isn’t right, if you are President of Nigeria, you have to be President of all Nigerians, and you have to bring all Nigerians together. The feeling is not there.

President Mohammadu Buhari

6. “I have always thought it was a mistake electing Buhari because people don’t change in their 70s, he has always been like that. In his first coming, the SMC (Supreme Military Council) had 16 people, only one was a Yoruba man. As chairman of the PTF (Petroleum Trust Fund), most of the money spent was in the north. Systematically, he has not changed, his people need to talk to him.”

7. “The issue of Fulani herdsmen, during Lam Adesina’s time, he came all the way from Katsina to Oyo state to make a case of your people are killing my people. Now that he is president, all Nigerians are his people, but there has been no herdsman that has been prosecuted for killing people. The buck stops with him.”

8. “When people assemble, we kill them, the lives of Shiites matter in Nigeria, the lives of Pro-Biafra people matter in Nigeria, the lives of Niger Delta people matter in Nigeria, the lives of all Nigerians matter. Historically he has said these herdsmen are his people. His body language caused these things, his attitude too.”

9. “This is the worst government in the history of Nigeria. They have failed in everything, all the promised made to get to power, and they have reneged on all of them.

10. “The problem I have with the fight against corruption is that the PDP was not the only government in Nigeria, the APC was in power for 16 years in Lagos. People who have been stealing our money must be prosecuted. But I don’t think the way it’s being prosecuted is to fight corruption, I think it is to fight the opposition. I don’t know of any instrument of corruption that the g