Under Tinubu, The Illusion of Inclusion Came to Conclusion, By Reno Omokri

Marginalisation in Nigeria, as a state policy, ended on May 29, 2023, the day President Bola Tinubu was sworn in as the 16th President or Head of State and Government of Nigeria.

Just think about it. For eight years before his swearing in, there was no person of Igbo origin in the National Security Council or the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

And on the official National Order of Precedence in Nigeria for public officers, inclusivity returned under President Tinubu. Not an illusory inclusion, but a real one.

In the eight years prior to President Bola Tinubu, 86% of the Military, Paramilitary and Security agencies in Nigeria were headed by Northern Muslim males, including the heads of the Ministry of Defence, the National Security Adviser’s office, Army, Airforce, Police, Customs, DSS, DMI, DIA, NIA, NIS, NCS, and the EFCC.

But with the coming to power of President Tinubu, we saw both a wind of change and a breath of fresh air, as for the first time in eight years, a person of Igbo origin was made a Chief of Staff, in the person of the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, a Christian from Enugu State.

After the October 2025 shake-up of the military to improve security, the President still ensured equity and named Air Marshal Sunday Kelvin Aneke, from the same Enugu State, as the incumbent Chief of the Air Staff.

So, not only is there an ethnic balance in our national security architecture, but there is also a religious balance.

For the minority people of the North, sometimes called the Middle Belt, or the Kwararafa Axis, there was a sense of despondency for eight years as they felt excluded from the governance structure of our nation’s security architecture to the point where the revered former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Theophilus Yakubu Damjuma, famously said that the military then had been compromised.

But today, the Middle Belt feels a sense of inclusion, having produced the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, the highest-ranking military officer in Nigeria, and now the Minister of Defence, in the person of General Christopher Musa, a Christian from Kaduna State.

As of today, no part of Nigeria, or religious bloc or denomination, can honestly say they are discriminated against in Nigeria.

The Chief of Army Staff is a Northern Muslim, the Chief of Air Staff is a Southern Christian, the Chief of Naval Staff is a Northern Muslim, while the Inspector General of Police is a Southern Christian.

The above reflects the most balanced Chiefs of Staff in Nigeria’s history!

This is no big surprise, given that as Governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had Nigerians of all ethnicities in his government. He made Ben Akabueze the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget. That was perhaps the most powerful ministry in the Lagos State Government.

And then we look at inclusivity for women.

And not only are women better represented in the cabinet and government of President Tinubu than they were in the eight years immediately before, but youths are also better represented.

Under the previous administration, the median age of cabinet ministers ranged from 61 to 63.

Advertisements

However, today, the average age of President Bola Tinubu’s ministers at inception was 52, with several youths included in the cabinet, including Betta Edu, who was appointed a minister at 36 and later suspended from office, pending investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

And then there is Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, the performing Minister of the Interior, who was appointed at the age of 41. And then Shuaibu Audu, the powerful minister of Steel Development. He and Joseph Utsev, the minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, became ministers at 42.

Also youthful is Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, who was 43 when President Tinubu named her a minister.

So, whether you refer to ethnicity, age or gender, there is a better balancing act in Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu than in the immediate past.

Advertisements

And Nigerians should ask themselves if they are willing to risk this in 2027, by replacing the President with a person like Peter Obi, who is so tone deaf to Nigeria’s need for ethnic and religious balance that in the most Islamic state of Nigeria, the seat of the Caliphate, Peter Obi named one Ifeanyi Ezeagu, a Christian from Ebonyi State as the state coordinator of his Presidential campaign for Sokoto. He also named John Ezeigbe Ughulu the coordinator for Lagos state.

Nigerians may also wish to be reminded that Peter Obi threatened to sack non-indigenes from the Anambra State Civil Service. In case Peter has forgotten, let me refresh his memory with this link here: https://allafrica.com/stories/201109201121.html

In 2027, Nigeria needs a leader who sees all people, irrespective of their ethnicity, region, religion, gender and age, as full-fledged citizens, not one who was caught on tape plotting “religious war” against the Muslim Ummah!

Reno Omokri

Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #TableShaker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Hodophile. Hollywood Magazine Humanitarian of the Year, 2019. Business Insider Influencer of the Year 2022. 21st Most Talked About Person in Africa, 2024.