Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, has alleged that some persons are after President Bola Tinubu because he is from the South.

In an interview with Trust Radio, Onanuga dismissed the claim of marginalisation as “politically-motivated lies.”

Onanuga said it is incorrect to say that the North has been shortchanged in appointments or developmental projects.

He described the complaints from the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) about marginalisation as a veiled attempt to undermine Southern presidency.

The presidential spokesman asked Northern politicians to wait for their turn just as the South waited during the tenure of late President Muhammadu Buhari.

“This President is a Nigerian. He deserves the same two terms that Buhari had. Let’s not sacrifice the country for personal ambition,” he said.

Addressing the claim that appointments have disproportionately favoured the South-West, Onanuga called on critics to present data rather than rely on broad generalizations.

He also took aim at the narrative surrounding neglected infrastructure in the North, saying the administration inherited a backlog of incomplete or abandoned projects.

“You need to get your statistics right. It’s all political mischief designed to undermine the President. There are bad roads across the country, not just in the North,” Onanuga said.

Onanuga defended Tinubu’s performance in the area of security, saying significant progress have been made.

“The National Security Adviser, Chief of Defence Staff, and the two Defence Ministers are all Northerners. Places like Birnin Gwari and Igabi (in Kaduna) are now safer. I drove from Kaduna to Abuja without incident, a journey that was once unthinkable." (Daily Trust)