President Muhammadu Buhari has insisted that despite what people think, he makes appointments based on merit and not on ethnicity.

The President has often been labelled nepotistic with his appointments, choosing to appoint predominantly Northerners, and mostly those of Islamic affiliations ahead of those from other parts of Nigeria.

But on Thursday, during an interview on Arise News, the broadcast arm of This Day Newspaper, the Commander-in-Chief quashed such allegations.

He maintained that instead of ensuring Federal Character is reflected in his appointments, he prefers to appoint based on merit.

There has been several times when the President has chosen to hastily promote a junior officer of Northern descent in the Nigerian Military and the Nigerian Police in order to make them either the Chief of Army, Defence, Air, or Naval Staff or the Inspector General of Police, when the highest-rankng officer is a Southerner or a Christian.