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President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has taken off after what seemed a lull in political activities with a number of appointments. And for those who had argued that the administration of the Daura-born Army General was too slow, he gave them enough to chew at the weekend after he released a list of his latest appointments. Many are in agreement that it was literally a bombshell.

Buhari on Thursday approved the appointments of six persons including Babachir David Lawal from Adamawa State as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Mr. Abba Kyari from Borno State as his Chief of Staff. The list takes the appointments made so far to 31, with only seven of them coming from the entire Southern part of the country. The rest are from northern Nigeria.

Before Thursday’s appointments, Buhari had also named only one Southerner among the initial nine appointments he made since he assumed office.

Perhaps, in the latest appointments, what surprised many was how he ignored the South East again by appointing the SGF from the North, a zone that had already produced many principal officers including the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

With the development, Buhari seemed to have stirred the hornet’s nest as reactions to the lopsided nature of the appointments have been pouring down like rain across the nation. However, while people from the South are in agreement that Buhari made the wring moves, the North is seemingly divided on the action of the President.

In his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the mood among members was not different as many were not comfortable with the skewed nature of the appointments and did not mince words in expressing their reservations. Many had touted the former governor of Lagos state, Raji Fashola and his counterpart from Rivers State, Chibuike Amechi to be part of the appointments Buhari would make. But it looks more clearly by the day that the President is not looking in their directions.

Apart from the imbalance in the distribution of portfolios, one appointment that has continued to generate controversy is that of the 77 year old Col. Hammeed Ibrahim Ali (Rtd) who is now the Comptroller General of Nigerian Customs Service (NCS). Daily Sun gathered that there are already rumblings in the para-military organization with many officers and rank and file of the Customs kicking that bringing a retired army officer to head the organization was tantamount to a vote of no confidence in the institution.

But amid the cacophony of voices, many still wonder what is Buhari’s motivation in adopting the unfolding leadership model. Former Governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife summed it thus: “ I do not understand what is happening and the motivation for what is happening”.  

As the arguments go back and forth, critical observers are forced to wonder and ponder the implication of President Buhari’s body language as he manages the nation’s political tide. Perhaps, in the circumstance, it is appropriate to put Buhari’s actions in the point of view of the nation’s cultural diversity and history.