Buhari’s appointments are balanced and fair— Lai

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says President Muhammadu Buhari is fair and balanced in his appointments.

He argued that to get the full picture of the president’s appointments, the totality of appointments made into public offices must be considered as against singling out the security sector.

Mohammed gave the defence on Friday in Lagos when he paid an advocacy visit to Channels Television to call for support for the national campaign against fake news.

His comments came on the heels of nepotism charge against the president following his appoint of Yusuf Bichi, a native of Kano State, as new Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS).

The Channels management team had asked the minister for his reaction to the criticism of lopsidedness that had trailed the latest appointment.

The minister said, “Those talking about balancing and federal character should stop focusing on one aspect.

“Let us see how many Permanent Secretaries, Director-Generals and Executive Directors and Heads of Parastatals we have in Nigeria today and where they come from.

“This will give us a more insight to the fact that this administration is not lopsided in appointments.

“We should stop looking at only one side to make our judgment and anywhere we notice any lopsidedness government will correct it,” he said.

Mohammed also debunked allegations that the N16.6 billion Paris Club refund to Osun State was to influence the election in favour of the All Progressives Congress-led state government.

“This is not the first time the Paris Club refund is being made available to states, I think it should be about the fourth time the government had released the money.

“This particular tranche would have been drawn a while ago but for the disagreement between the governors and the Federal Government.

“It is released to all the states, so, it has nothing to do with the election, the timing may be a coincidence,” he said.

On the progress made so far on Digital Switch Over, the minister said that the Economic Management Team headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had set up a committee look into the challenges facing the process.

He said that the major challenge of DSO was basically funding and certain statutory interpretation.

Mohammed assured that the DSO was on course and the process would be fast-tracked after the report of the committee.

The information minister also said the prediction of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) victory at 2019 presidential poll by The Economist magazine is fake news.

The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the research unit of the magazine, had said though the 2019 election would be “a close contest”, the PDP would defeat the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Mohammed said the report was based on “fake premises.”

“Talking about fake news, we expect that those who have been deeply affected by our policies will mount a sustained campaign against this administration in the weeks and months to come. In fact, they have already started,” the minister said.

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“We have all read that the intelligence unit of The Economist said the PDP will defeat the ruling APC in 2019. We have also read that the international financial institution HSBC said Nigeria’s economic development will be stunted if President Buhari gets a second term

“Let me state clearly that these reports are based on fake premises and, therefore, qualify as fake news. It is a psychological warfare by those who have been badly hit by our policies. For example, out fight against corruption has meant that many financial institutions, especially banks, that fed fat on the proceeds of corruption are no longer able to do that.

”Also, international publications that used to feed fat on questionable supplements paid for by the federal government have seen a drastic reduction in such patronage, as the Administration cuts down on frivolous spending that was the order of the day in the past.

“Therefore, it is natural that these institutions and publications would not wish to see another term for this administration.”

The minister said the campaign against fake news has recorded a great achievement so far.

”Since launching the campaign, we have recorded a huge success. Yes, we have not stopped the spread of fake news, and we are not under any illusion that we can stop it so fast,” he said.

“But we have succeeded in bringing the issue of fake news to the front burner. It is now a subject of national discourse, workshops and conferences.”

John Momoh, chairman of Channels Television, said his station would remain a watchdog for the society.

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