President Muhammmadu Buhari says he is in a difficult situation over appointments.
The president said this at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday while receiving a delegation of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria.
He was responding to a number of issues raised by the delegation, including complaints that Muslims had been marginalised in appointments to government institutions such as the military and the civil service.
Buhari, according to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Malam Garba Shehu, said adherents of all faiths accused him of marginalisation over appointments.
He said this illustrated how difficult his job was as he faced the same criticism from adherents of other faiths.
“I am in a difficult situation,” the president admitted.
On the burning issue of violent conflicts in some parts of country, he said he was putting in his best.
He said that following his dissatisfaction with the performance of the Police in Zamfara State, he ordered a massive transfer of officers and men who had stayed three years and above in the troubled state.
He appealed to the religious leaders to instruct their followers on the importance of possessing their own voters’ cards which he described as a “national entitlement,” and to preach justice to all “which is an instituted pillar of Islam”.
Buhari revealed that he had received a “stiff bill” from the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, for the restoration of the dilapidated infrastructure and facilities of federal government-owned radio stations in all states of the federation.
The president promised that something would be done.
Speaking on behalf of the delegation, the vice president, Sheikh Hadiyyatullahi Abdulrashid, commended Buhari for accomplishing his election promises.
He likened Buhari to the captain of a capsizing ship and the messiah needed by the country.
Sheikh Abdulrashid also spoke about the alleged marginalisation of Muslims, violent conflicts between farmers and herders, the problems of drug abuse among youths and the fate of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Kaduna, among other issues.
