Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says Christians and other Nigerians from the southern part of the country are the biggest gainers in the appointments so far made by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Fielding questions from a group of journalists and social media practitioners in Lagos over the weekend, the Vice President debunked allegations of nepotism levelled against the Buhari administration.

The transcript of the interview which was released on Sunday to State House correspondents by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity noted that President Buhari’s cabinet comprised of 20 Christians and 18 Muslims.

Osinbajo stated that while four of the five southern states had substantive ministers, seven northern states had ministers of state, adding that the number of Chief Executive Officers of Federal agencies and parastatals from Anambra State was more than the number from Katsina State or any other state except Ogun.

While agreeing that  the Constitution requires that each state must have a minister in the Federal cabinet, Osinbajo said the choice of assigning portfolios however rests only with the President.

His words: “Look at the cabinet for example, from the point of view of  religion, it has equal number; 18 Christians, 18 Muslims but we have the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as well as the Head of Service who are Christians.

“So we have 20 Christians to 18 Muslims; that’s the structure of the cabinet. So if you take that narrative; you may argue that perhaps the Christians have the upper hand; that’s a possible narrative.

He continued: “Let us look a little deeper into that. So there are those who may argue, for example, that the north has an upper hand or perhaps one section has an upper hand in the cabinet as one narrative.

“The South East, for example has five states. Four of the South Eastern States have senior ministers; all of them, except one, who is Minister of State for Education.

“In the North, seven northern states have no senior minister, including the President’s home state, Katsina. Now, there are those who will say, if you are nepotistic; surely seven northern states have no senior minister. It’s a narrative depending on how you want to run it.

“The President has admitted that, yes there are situations where you can find certain things as true and he intends to have a look at that. For example, you’ve given the example of security positions and he said he is going to take a look at it.

“I believe that it is the way to go because you can run any narrative that will suit the figures you are showing. And that is where we have legal process. There are people who don’t know that the number of CEOs from Anambra State are more than the number of CEOs from Katsina State or anywhere else except Ogun.”