By ICIR NIgeria

Femi Okurounmu, the senator who represented Ogun Central at the National Assembly between 1999 and 2003, says the government at the centre is one of the Hausa-Fulani for the Hausa-Fulani, with other Nigerians as their subjects.

Speaking in an interview with Punch, Okurounmu condemned the recent recruitment exercise into the Department of State Services (DSS), which favoured the north, saying from start, Buhari took off with his administration “on this same note, in which all security chiefs and heads of government parastatals were all northerners”.

“When President Buhari sacked officers from the military, they were all southerners,” he said.

“When herdsmen were marauding and killing people, Buhari did nothing. But let the people being killed rise to defend themselves, then there would be another form of offensive against them.

“So, the DSS recruitment is following the same pattern. It is not a new development. It has got to a crushing level. The government at the centre can be described as the government of the Hausa-Fulani for the Hausa-Fulani, with other Nigerians as their subjects.

Okurounmu also responded to the recent warning by Tukur Buratai, Chief of Army Staff, that officers found to be involved in reports of alleged coup plotting would be dealt with.

His opinion is that Buratai “is only flying a kite to see how people will react if there is a coup”.

“It is the Hausa-Fulani cabal,” he said.

“Each time they feel threatened that power might slip from their hands, they think of a coup. All other coups, save for the [Kaduna] Nzeogwu and [Gideon] Orkar coups, were all planned by the northerners.

“They did not want a repeat of what happened during the late President Umaru Yar’Adua when (Goodluck) Jonathan became president. So, they are already preparing to retain the presidency in case anything happens to President Buhari.”

He urged Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to act “as the president”, regardless of the cabal in the presidency that may be bent on frustrating him.

“There is nothing like ‘coordinating vice president’ in the constitution,” Okurounmu said.

“In the event that the president will not be around to govern, he is expected to hand over to the vice president who will then take over as acting president. I believe that the people who constituted themselves as a cabal in the presidency were being mischievous with that expression. The content of the letter might even not be known to the President. They might want to upstage Osinbajo, so that he would not be able to act as president in the absence of President Buhari.

I am glad that the National Assembly members discovered the anomaly, and did the needful. I want to charge Osinbajo to act as the president and he should not allow anyone to debar him. It is one thing to give a man a title, and it is another thing for him to perform the roles expected of him. Notwithstanding the contents of his letter of appointment, Osinbajo should act as the president and let his people know that they are not second-class citizens.”