The Presidency on Saturday explained the reasons why there are names of dead persons on the list of newly appointed chairmen and members of board of government parastatals and agencies released on Friday.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, gave the history of the list, saying that it was prepared before President Muhammadu Buhari took ill and was released by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, without any alteration.
He said the President requested for the submission of 50 names each by the state chapters of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in 2015, which were later compiled by the national secretariat of the party.
Subsequently, he revealed, the names were submitted to the then SGF, Babachir Lawal.
He added: “However, complaint arose from some governors who felt they were not carried along in the process. To answer this, the President constituted a committee under the Vice President to review and reflect the interest of the governors.”
The presidential aide noted that action on the report submitted to the President by the committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was delayed because of President Buhari’s illness and his subsequent medical vacation abroad.
“The President’s trips for medical attention slowed down completion of the process,” he said.
Shehu said the President only decided to revisit the matter recently and therefore directed the new SGF to release the list.
“The current SGF was only directed to complete that process by releasing the list which he apparently did without altering it,” he stated.
The Presidency maintained that the appearance of dead persons’ names was a mistake, which would be corrected.
The President approved the constitution of the Governing Boards of Agencies and Parastatals, under some Ministries, as well as the appointment of eminently qualified Nigerians to fill the Board positions.
It is made up of 209 Chairmen and 1,258 members.
In the meantime, a number of citizens have taken to the social media and other centres for information dissemination lampooning elements in the country who they wondered took delight in raising controversy over everything that government did, whether right or wrong.
Mr. Fusi Adedoyin, who spoke to The DEFENDER said, “It is now clear that the PDP and its sympathizers have lost it completely and are therefore in extinction in the Nigeria’s political space. Or how do you explain a so called major opposition party that jumps at hear-say without probing? The other time they heard about issue between Kachiukwu and Baru and made a case out of it saying Buhari stole $25 billion that was not missing in any financial book or pulse of the nation for his 2019 election. They had shamefully reclined upon hearing that no money was missing and they had no basis to argue.
“Again, upon appointment of Boss Mustapha as SGF, recall that Femi Fani-Kayode had reportedly posted on his Facebook wall that ‘Buhari sacked a Christian and replaced him with a Muslim as SGF’. He was said to have quickly, tactically removed the unfortunate and self-ridiculing post when he was confronted with fact that Boss Mustapha is not just a Christian but also that he is a very active Pentecostal Christian pastor. Femi Fani-Kayode is a PDP member who gave a self-justification for collecting N850 million by virtue of his position as Director of Goodluck Jonathan 2015 Presidential Campagin from money that was voted for equipping the military troops to fight Boko Haram and save lives of Nigerians in the North East, without him being able to explain how that N850 million was spent by him. He had intended to raise senseless controversy over Buhari’s appointment of Boss Mustapha until he hit his head on the rock at it.
“Recall also that these same people had not only conjured fake news and rumours over the health of President Muhammadu Buhari during his ill health and medical sojourn in London but also are known for celebrating everything that seems to be misfortune in the family of the President. Latest of this being the accident of the son of the President, Yusuf, which they as party, PDP, and as individuals have celebrated wishing the President’s son bad. Who does not know that human being who celebrates and finds delight in other’s misfortune has only created a path to doom for himself? The end of PDP and all of its sympathizers involved in this kind of evil politicking has come already and there will be no pity for them.
“Unfortunate though, an opposition that wants to convince Nigeria why it is better than the party in power is expected to be calm, patient and be self-equipped with knowledge, wisdom and comprehensive understanding of events around and say nothing but the truth to the public. A PDP which describes a supposed ‘dead persons’ appointment list’ as national shame and sign of failure on the party of Buhari’s government, how much of a seriousness will any sane Nigerian take it? Now that the Presidency has blown open the rump of fowl of the fake, corrupt people calling themselves opposition with a statement by Garba Shehu explaining the mistake and even informed of plan to replace the dead persons’ names, we only hope Nigerians will now begin to warn the PDP and other baseless critics to stop playing on their intelligence as a people and nation’s state,” Fusi Adedoyin, who spoke on behalf of Concerned Citizens, said.
