Presidency Releases Full List of Buhari’s Appointments; denies marginalizing other sections of the country

The presidency on Saturday, released the full list of the appointments made so far by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration saying it is wrong to input he favoured the north in appointments.

In a statement titled ‘Re: 81 of Buhari’s 100 appointees are Northerners’, it said the above-titled article as originally published by a national daily is both simply sloppy and careless or a mischievous attempt by the publication to mislead the public and portray the Buhari administration in bad light.

A statement signed by Femi Adesina, Presidential Spokesman said, “Although the publication claims to be a fact-checking reportage, it is obvious that its own facts need checking and what it did essentially was to roughly put together a string of misleading statements across two pages of major national news daily.

To push this biased reportage, which wrongly claimed that 81 of President Muhammadu Buhari’s 100 appointees are Northerners, the writer arbitrarily selected 100 appointees to drive home the distraction presented as “facts”. (We attach a list below that demonstrates the needless falsehoods in the publication)

To claim, suggest or 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.

Why will a publication of the status of Business Day not bother to verify its facts before embarking on a diatribe against the President to which they invited several unsuspecting commentators? Or are we to conclude that this was to fit a narrative that the paper appears to be driving lately?

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 Nwakpa 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.

Besides, the publication made not just one, but several errors on names and positions, in what could be seen as a deliberate attempt to mislead the reading public, along the lines of some intended distortions of the truth.

For example, there are several other appointments the publication failed to mention, which clearly shows the fair geopolitical spread of President Buhari’s appointees. For instance, the publication didn’t mention Sharon Ikeazor, Director-General, PTAD, who is from Anambra, South East; Folorunsho Coker, DG, NTDC; who is from Lagos, South West; Mr. O. Olaoye, from Oyo, South West, is Director, National Council of Privatization, and Eze Duru Ihioma, Chairman, NPC, who is from Imo, South East, among many others.

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 reappointed by the Buhari administration. We are not even mentioning those who were in positions before the President took over, that have been left in place.

 Just to make up the numbers the author included the President’s ADC as one of the appointments from the North!

Aside from that, several names of board members/appointees from other parts of the country were deliberately left out.

This 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, Mr. Ife Oyedele Executive director NDPHC, Uche Orji, CEO NSIA, Asue Ighodalo Director NSIA, Osita Okechukwu, DG VON, Yemi Kale, DG NBS and Waziri Adio, Executive Secretary NEITI, among many several others.

As in several other cases in the publication, the facts were twisted to fit the false narrative. For example, the name of the chairman of PENCOM Dikko Abdulrahman from the North East was mentioned leaving out the CEO Mr. Funso Doherty who is from the South West.

For NCC, the CEO Mr. Umaru Danbatta from the North West is mentioned leaving out the chairman Otunba Olabiyi Durojaiye, who is from the South West.

(To be sure, attached below is a graph that shows the breakdown of several more Federal Government agency appointments per state showing the true picture of the spread. More of these appointments are still in process.)

Thus, the publication’s inconsistencies and selective reportage is 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 is unity and constructive dialogue that would help the nation march forward on the right path not divisive, misleading reportage.

It is, indeed, false for anyone to say that President Buhari’s appointments are lopsided. From all records, 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 matters 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. 

Femi Adesina

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

Nov 4, 2017