Leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) nationwide will meet on Thursday in Abuja to review and possibly harmonize the list of appointees to the governing boards of several federal agencies and parastatals of government released in December by President Muhammadu Buhari.
An inside source within the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, who does not want his name on print, told BusinessDay on Wednesday that the APC national chairman, John Odigie- Oyegun will meet with the chairmen of the party in the 36 state chapters and other party faithful to review the appointments, which sparked off nationwide outcry following the appointment of dead persons in the list.
President Buhari had approved the appointment of 1,258 members of the governing boards of agencies and parastatals, the largest set of appointments he has made since he was sworn-in in May 2015.
The source said further that apart from the dead persons identified in the list, the party has also discovered that there are several persons who were no longer members of the party that found their names as board members. He noted that although the party had drawn up the list of the appointees at the early stage, the Presidency did consult with the party for necessary amendments before going public with the list.
Odigie -Oyegun had told reporters that “It is pretty obvious that the party was not involved in the final stages of the compilation of that list.
“Yes, at the initial stage (and I’m talking about something that approximates two years ago), we demanded from every state, 50 nominations.
“These were duly sent to the committee that was set up for the purpose and they completed the initial exercise at that time,” he said, adding that since the initial stage the party was not carried along in the subsequent processes.
The APC chairman noted that that there have been lots of new developments since the last two years within the party, which make necessary to review the list.
“Obviously between two years ago and today, a lot has happened. People have changed parties, people have died.
“We had three new governors who were not there when the original list was compiled and so it was clear that there was an obvious need for us to look at the final outcome,” he said.
The Presidency through the Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, later apologized for the error saying in a statement that the list was compiled before President Buhari took ill and was released without any alteration.
A committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had been set up to review and reflect the interest of some governors who have also lamented their exclusion in the process.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
