Expdonaloaded News; Cabinet: Avoid bias, bishop advises Buhari

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has been advised to appoint a cabi­net based on merit and avoid lop-sidedness. The advice was given at the week­end by Rt. Rev. Innocent Ordu, Bish­op of the Diocese of Evo, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), while delivering his presidential address/bishop’s charge at the third session of the second synod in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Bishop Ordu, who spoke on the theme, “Recapturing the spirit of excellence and integrity in service:
The Daniel’s example”, urged the President to respect the principle of federal character in constituting his cabinet. “We urge the President to avoid lop-sidedness in his appoint­ments and respect the principle of federal character. Ethnic, regional or religious biases must be avoided. Merit, competence and even-spread of positions should be considered first and foremost. “Every Nigerian and groups are constitutionally at liberty to vote for any person or political party of their choice, even if that person or party ends up losing at the polls. “That preference by an individual, ethnic groups or geo-political zones should not make them suffer mar­ginalisation in the distribution of po­litical offices and other dividends of democracy to the various sections of the country”, he said. The cleric noted that Nigeria be­longs to all, adding that people of the South-East and South-South, did not commit any crime against the country by their voting pattern in this year’s general elections. “They must not be made to stand by and helplessly watch other parts of the country scramble for key positions just because they voted differently. Once again, we say Nigeria belongs to all of us and so key offices must be equitably distributed”, he added. Bishop 0rdu described the leader­ship crisis at the National Assembly as embarrassing and deplorable. Ac­cording to him, the lawmakers were “shamefully soaked in the battle for who occupies what office in the Na­tional Assembly”, instead of focus­ing on the legislative and oversight functions. The Anglican Bishop accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) leadership for the crisis because of their desperation. He said the law­makers “appear visibly to under­mine the independence of the second arm of government by insisting that certain key offices be occupied by some already anointed members of both Houses. “This, in our opinion, is totally wrong and will not make for the healthy growth of our young demo­cratic process”, he said