The presidency has released a list of appointments made so far under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The list which covers about 159 agencies and other political appointments, is a reaction to an earlier story published by BusinessDay, in which the newspaper took a full assessment of appointments made under the current administration.
The list shows that South West lead on the number of appointments by the President with 40, closely followed by North West with 30, while North East has 24 appointees.
Others include South East with 22, North Central 21, while South-South has 20.
The list released on Saturday by the President’s media team contained about 59 names which they said were not Included in the BusinessDay report.
In a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, the Presidency said President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to serving every Nigerian, irrespective of tribe, ethnicity or religion.
Adesina, while initially reacting to the article published by BusinessDay newspapers of Sunday, 29th October which captured the lopsided appointments that have characterized President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, noted that the President was determined to ensure that Nigeria remains strong and united”
READ ALSO: PIB: Nothing wrong in Buhari as Minister of Petroleum -Senate President
According to him; ” It is, indeed, false for anyone to say that President Buhari’s appointments are lopsided. From all records, the majority of the President’s appointees across different portfolios are not from the North, as the publication erroneously alleged. If the publication did not have ulterior motives, a simple enquiry from official sources in the Presidency would have prevented this unwarranted public disinformation.”
“It must be stated clearly that, despite the distractions and biased reportage of this article, President Muhammadu Buhari remains committed to serving all Nigerians, no matter the tribe, ethnicity or region, and he is also determined to ensure that Nigeria remains strong and united. He has, and will continue to keep faith with one Nigeria and has shown this with the administration’s diverse projects in different parts of the country’s geopolitical zones.”
Adesina who observed that the publication contained “several errors on names and positions” added that “there are several other appointments the publication failed to mention, which clearly shows the fair geopolitical spread of President Buhari’s appointees”
He, however, admitted that ” the attached graph shows the breakdown of current Federal Government agency appointments per state reflecting the true picture of the spread”
He listed the appointments to include those of ” Sharon Ikeazor, Director-General, PTAD, who is from Anambra, South-East; Folorunsho Coker, DG, NTDC; who is from Lagos, South-West; Ituah Ighodalo, of the National Council of Privatisation, who is from the South-South; Eze Duru Ihioma, Chairman, NPC, who is from Imo, South East, among many others”
According to him ” There are at least 50 names of the President’s appointees that the article didn’t mention that are not from the North, while there are some others that were already in place before the administration came in but reconfirmed by the Buhari administration”
“Aside from that, several names of board members/appointees from other parts of the country were deliberately left out. These include Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye, NCC Chairman, Sunday Dare, NCC Executive Commissioner, Jide Zeitlin, NSIA Chairman, Anthony Ayine, Auditor General of the Federation, Anibor Kragha, COO NNPC, Chiedu Ugbo, MD NDPHC, Uche Orji, CEO NSIA, Osita Okechukwu, DG VON, Yemi Kale, DG NBS and Waziri Adio, Executive Secretary NEITI, among several others”
READ ALSO: My aides using my name to extort money- Buhari cries out
“Thus, the publication’s inconsistencies and selective reportage are questionable, to say the least. And this is divisive with its many misleading statements that should be taken with a pinch of salt. What Nigerians need now are unity and constructive dialogue that would help the nation march forward on the right path not divisive, misleading reportage”
“Although the publication claims to be a fact-checking reportage, what it did essentially is roughly putting together a string of misleading statements across two pages of a newspaper.”
“To push this biased reportage, which wrongly claimed that 81 of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 100 appointees are Northerners, the writer unilaterally selected 100 appointees to drive home the distraction presented as “facts”.
“To claim, suggest or attempt to insinuate that the President’s appointments are tilted in favour of a section of the country is simply untrue and certainly uncharitable”
“First of all, the publication could not even cross the t’s and dot the I’s properly. For instance, the author wrongly named the Director-General, NISER, as Haruna Yerima, whereas the DG, NISER is actually Folarin Gbadebo-Smith. Again, the author wrongly identified the CEO, NDLEA as Muhammad Abdallah. However, Mrs Roli Bode-George is the CEO, NDLEA”
“The article also wrongly named Tunde Irukera as Executive Secretary of CPP,-whatever that is- instead of Consumer Protection Council (CPC). Rather conveniently, the publication ignored mentioning that Mr Emeka Nwankpa is chairman of CPC. Not only that, the writer claimed that the Director-General of the Budget Office is Aliyu Gusau, whereas Mr Ben Akabueze is the actual DG, Budget Office.”
See Full List Of Buhari’s Appointments Here
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
