Chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Debo Adeniran has said that people should not be quick to criticise President Muhammadu Buhari over perceived nepotism in appointments and projects allocation but the President must also justify his actions.

In a statement on Monday,Adeniran spoke on the criticisms that had trailed appointments, projects allocations and resource sharing in the country.

“We should not mince words; nepotism is a form of corruption and it contradicts the supposed anti-corruption image of the Buhari-led administration and the so-called change mantra of his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).”

He said that there were adequate reasons for Nigerians to be agitated if the government could not justify its actions, explaining that no part of the country should be discriminated against.

“We believe that the commonwealth of the country should be evenly distributed. We must not trivialise equity. No component part of the country should be discriminated against in project allocations and federal appointments.”

Adeniran said there is constant distrust in political leaders by the people in Nigeria hence the present agitations over project allocations.

“For instance, the present agitations over some projects allocated to the North-Eastern part of the country should not have generated so much foray in public discourse were it not for the constant distrust that leaders have instilled in the minds of the people.”

He said for trust to be gained, President Buhari must defend his actions as it is his responsibility to justify his actions.

“We believe it’s not out of place to allocate more projects to the North-East because of the challenges of that area. It may not sound fair, but we want the President to defend his action. He has a responsibility to justify it convincingly to Nigerians that the allocations are not nepotistic,” Adeniran said. (Channels TV)

•CACOL Chairman Debo Adeniran