ABUJA, Nigeria — Presidential Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, has alleged that recent criticisms of President Bola Tinubu are rooted in regional bias, accusing some actors of targeting the President because he is from southern Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview with Trust Radio, Onanuga dismissed allegations of marginalisation raised by northern leaders, particularly the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), calling them “politically-motivated lies” aimed at delegitimising the Tinubu administration.
“This President is a Nigerian. He deserves the same two terms that Buhari had,” Onanuga stated.
“Let’s not sacrifice the country for personal ambition.”
The comments come amid rising tension over claims that appointments and federal projects under President Tinubu’s government are skewed in favour of the South-West, the President’s home region.
The ACF recently voiced concern over what it described as underrepresentation and neglect of the North in key national affairs.
Onanuga, however, rejected the notion of any deliberate marginalisation.
He insisted that appointments had been distributed with balance in mind and challenged critics to present empirical data rather than rely on anecdotal assumptions.
“You need to get your statistics right. It’s all political mischief designed to undermine the President,” he said.
“There are bad roads across the country, not just in the North.”
He added that many of the infrastructure complaints stemmed from the backlog of incomplete or abandoned projects inherited by the current administration, which is working to address them equitably.
Onanuga also pointed to recent security gains as evidence of Tinubu’s commitment to national stability, especially in northern regions long affected by insecurity.
“The National Security Adviser, Chief of Defence Staff, and the two Defence Ministers are all Northerners,” he said.
“Places like Birnin Gwari and Igabi in Kaduna are now safer. I drove from Kaduna to Abuja without incident, a journey that was once unthinkable.”
The presidential adviser urged northern political actors to exercise patience, pointing out that southerners had shown similar restraint during the eight-year presidency of Muhammadu Buhari, who hails from Katsina State in the North-West.
“Northern politicians should wait for their turn, just as the South waited,” he said.
