Political activist and public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Comptroller-General of Customs of promoting nepotism, sectionalism, and regional imbalance in the recently released 2025 Nigeria Customs Cadet Officers recruitment list.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Shehu alleged that the recruitment exercise reflected a deliberate marginalisation of the North, while favouring candidates from the South, particularly the South-West.
According to him, out of the 1,785 shortlisted candidates, 1,244 are from the South, leaving only 541 slots for the North. He further claimed that about 45 percent of the entire list—roughly 803 candidates—came from the South-West zone alone.
> “The most outstanding and visible political blunder of Tinubu is that of open nepotism and reckless accumulation of foreign loans—an attitude he inherited from Buhari but has surpassed a billion times over,” Shehu wrote.
“Bola’s nepotistic inclination and perfection is so glaring and compelling that one could surrender to him the title of ‘Emeritus Professor of Nepotism’,” he added.
The fiery activist accused the President of turning the Nigerian federation into what he described as a “regional fiefdom,” where appointments, projects, and policy decisions are strategically skewed to favour his ethnic base.
> “It is not enough that he handed over the management of Nigeria’s wealth-creating institutions to the South-West,” Shehu claimed.
“He was not satisfied even after allocating over 70 percent of his capital projects to the South-West. He feels no guilt that he decimated the entire economy of the North.”
Shehu also alleged that key federal parastatals headed by appointees from the South-West were “systematically skewing employment, promotion, and procurement processes” in favour of their kinsmen.
> “The Customs recruitment list is just one of many examples of institutionalised bias under Tinubu’s government,” he said.
“The Comptroller-General would not have acted this way if he believed Tinubu would be angry. It shows they both share the same sentiment.”
Shehu lamented that the current administration has deepened division and mistrust among Nigeria’s regions, alleging that Northerners now feel hated, profiled, and reduced to second-class citizens in their own country.
> “Many from the North would prefer to live in a country of their own—one where they are not treated like beggars and animals,” he lamented.
Quoting from the Bible to drive home his point, Shehu warned that injustice and inequality will not stand the test of time.
> “The wicked make evil plans against good people… But the Lord laughs at the wicked because He sees that their day is coming,” he said, quoting Psalms 37:12–13.
In his closing remarks, the activist cautioned that no leader can build a stable nation on a foundation of open bias and deliberate imbalance, adding that history will not be kind to those who promote sectional governance.
> “When tomorrow comes, even the hypocritical Northerners will look back and pray,” he wrote.
“A nation cannot thrive on the pillars of injustice and selective governance.”
PIONEER NEWS 