The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has said the steps taken by President Muhammadu Buhari since he took over on May 29 are tainted with ethnic colouration.

The governor, who said the retired general was operating as a “president of northern Nigeria only” said, “appointments made by Buhari so far negated the principle of federal character.”

Fayose, according to a statement issued on Monday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said it was wrong for the President to have made 31 major appointments with only seven coming from the South.

“Under Buhari, are people from southern Nigeria only meant to be hounded and harassed by anti-corruption agencies and the Department of State Services while those from the North are meant to enjoy Federal Government’s juicy appointments?” he asked.

Apart from lopsided appointments made by the President, the governor said he was worried that the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway had slowed down while work had stopped on Lokoja-Abuja road.

These roads, he said, “are the major roads linking the southern part of Nigeria with the North.”

“Also, we have been told by the Federal Government that the Second Niger Bridge project has been suspended and one is now beginning to remember how Buhari cancelled the Lagos Metroline Project in 1985 at a loss of over $78m (then) to the Lagos tax payers.”

Fayose maintained that Nigeria could only move forward if there was equity and fairness, saying those who made the country’s constitution and enshrined the principle of federal character in it were mindful of the ethnic diversity of the country.

But the Presidency appealed to Nigerians to ignore Fayose.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said appeal to ethnic and regional arithmetic would not give back to the Peoples Democratic Party what it lost at the poll.

He said, “Let me say at this stage that mere appeal to ethnic and regional arithmetic will not give back to the PDP what they lost. They seem to be making a dangerous calculation with their recent outbursts.

“The mere appeal to sectional and religious will not give the party its lost relevance or electability. Nigerians are smarter than Fayose thinks.

“The governor’s outbursts are intended to be a trigger for a clash between communities in areas where deliberate attempts had in the past also been made by the PDP to stoke ethnic and religious fault-lines.

“Our appeal to Nigerians is that they should ignore these tantrums. President Buhari is a healer not a divider.”