Boards’ List Compiled in 2015, Submitted 2016, Says Presidency
-  PDP: Deceased persons on list confirms APC govt’s incompetence
- Ruling party lauds release of appointments as promise kept
Omololu Ogunmade, Olawale Ajimotokan and Onyebuchi Ezeigbo in Abuja
Following the inclusion of the names of dead persons on the list of board appointments released by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on Friday, the Presidentcy saturday attributed the development to the fact that the list was compiled in 2015.
In a telephone conversation with THISDAY, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said the names of the deceased had been compiled before their demise, insisting that there is nothing scandalous in the development.
He said names of dead persons would be expunged.
Nigerians have continued to express repugnance after it was discovered that at least five of the appointees were dead. There is also grumbling within the ruling All Progressives Congress because some of the appointees had defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
One of the dead appointees was the former Director Mass Mobilisation for Self Reliance, Social Justice and Economic Recovery (MAMSER), Sokoto State, Alhaji Umar Dange.
Dange, from Sokoto State, was appointed a member of the Federal Medical Centre, Ebutte Meta, Lagos.
Another dead man who also made it to the board is Francis Okpozo, a Second Republic Senator from Delta State.
Ironically, the government that wrote a condolence letter to Okpozo’s family when he died in 2016 at a private hospital in Benin City, appointed him chairman of the Nigerian Press Council.
A former Deputy Inspector General of Police Donald Ugbaja, who died some weeks ago, was appointed into the board of of the Consumer Protection Council.
A fourth person, Christopher Utov, was appointed board member of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research.
He is believed to be the same person as a Catholic priest from Benue State that died in March last year. The fifth controversial appointee said to have also died is Garba Attahiru from Kaduna State.
Shehu who said he was not in a position to state whether the list would be reviewed or not, added that what was clear was that the names of dead persons on the list would be removed.
He pointed out that people raising other issues over the list were entitled to their opinions.
“If people are dead, their names will be removed. People can hold opinions. This is a political environment. People are entitled to their opinions,” Shehu said.
Explaining how names of dead persons got to the list, Shehu said the list was not new but had been in existence since 2015.
According to him, at the commencement of the preparation for compilation of the list, the president asked leaders of his party to forward names of prospective appointees to the party headquarters.
The list, he added, was later forwarded to the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, whom he said submitted the list to the president in October 2016.
The presidential spokesman further explained that upon the submission of the list to the president by the former SGF, it became a subject of dispute as governors said they were not carried along during its compilation.
He said the dispute over the list prompted the president to constitute a fresh committee led by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to review the list in collaboration with governors.
Shehu said when the Osinbajo-led committee finished the review, the president was not available as a result of his ill health, pointing out that now that the president has fully recovered, he simply asked the new SGF, Boss Mustapha, to release the list.
Insisting that there was nothing scandalous about the list, Shehu said death is a call of nature which can happen anytime, observing that it is not impossible for some of the appointees who are alive today to also pass on before inauguration.
“The list is an old list. It was compiled in 2015. The president asked party leaders to forward names. So, names were forwarded to the headquarters. The list was to pass through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
“The then SGF, Babachir Lawal, then submitted the list in October 2016. But the list was disputed. Governors said they were not carried along. So, another committee was set up to review the list. The president asked the vice president to review the list along with governors. They finished the review.
“But when the reviewed list was ready, the president had his health challenges. Now, the president is fully okay. So, he asked the SGF to release the list. There is nothing scandalous about it. Before their inauguration, don’t be surprised, some of those on the list now, may die. It is nature’s call,” he explained.
The Office of Secretary of Government of the Federation (OSGF) however maintained tight lips on the controversy trailing some of the key appointments into the boards of the federal agencies and departments.
Workers at OSGF offered no clues when THISDAY sought clarifications about the circumstances under which names of dead individuals were included among the 209 board chairmen and 1,258 board members appointed into federal government parastatals.
Some of them said they were in no position to make explanation because the file on the appointment did not pass through them.
A statement issued by the SGF Boss Mustapha on Friday said the president considered the approval for the constitution of the boards as well as the appointments, very necessary to provide proper governance and oversight structure for government agencies and parastatals.
The appointments were with immediate effect and respective ministers were to inaugurate the boards after letters of appointment had been issued.
THISDAY checks revealed that Mustapha made little inputs into drawing the list, as the names were compiled and processed by the former SGF Babachir Lawal and, later Mrs Habibat Lawal, who acted as the SGF, when Babachir Lawal was suspended and eventually indicted by a probe panel, leading to his sack, following the saga over the North- east IDP camp contract award.
Mrs. Lawal, who has since reverted to her status as the Permanent Secretary Ecological Funds Office at OSGF, only handed over to Mustapha in October this year as the substantive SGF.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has however described as an unpardonable national embarrassment, the appointment of deceased persons as members of various federal boards by the Buhari-led APC administration.
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement said the development had further confirmed PDP’s position that the APC administration was completely confused, disorganised and grossly incompetent, adding that Nigerians can now see the level of recklessness and shoddiness inherent in the management of the nation under the APC.
The party noted that the situation had further exposed why the nation’s economy had been in shambles under the APC and wondered how a government which cannot tidy up a routine issue of board appointment for over two years can successfully take on complex issues of governance.
Ologbondiyan stated, “Nigerians can now see why the nation’s economy has been in shambles in the last two years. When we say that this government is completely inept, some Nigerians did not know to which level, but now they do.
“This inability to tidy up a simple issue of list of 209 appointees has completely exposed the extent the APC government is bereft of simple organisational skills to manage a country like Nigeria, which is in dire need of development.
“How on earth can a government that cannot compile a common list handle intricate issues of national planning and budgeting; issues of health, education, aviation, agriculture, infrastructure and management of the huge civil service?
“How can they possibly initiate and successfully implement national and international instruments for national development in today’s competitive world?
“This also explains why nothing has been working under the APC government. Furthermore, the mix up in the list also exposes the corruption in the APC government.
“The fact is that the government of our dear country has been in wrong hands in the last two years and the situation will continue to worsen unless the nation is rescued from them in 2019.â€
On its part, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) said the appointments fell short of expectations.
APGA’s national chairman, Chief Victor Oye, who spoke to THISDAY yesterday on telephone, said the target goal of such appointments which is to bring persons with capacity to crystallise development had been neglected.
Oye said, “The essence of the appointments to the boards is to crystallise development in the country and to ensure that the machinery of government is moving fine. They are expected to bring in new life, new ideas into the system. But when you bring in dead wood into the system, they would not be able to add value to the system.
“As far as we are concerned the appointment is fraught with irregularities and we call on the federal government to redo the list and come up with men and women of integrity to be able to man such offices.
“The era of mediocrity should give way to quality representation. APGA frowns on the development and hopes that the president will take a dispassionate look at the matter and ensure that the proper thing is done.”
But APC saw the release of the list as a promise kept by Buhari. The party said although it had not had time to study the list of those appointed into the boards, it believed that by approving the appointments, Buhari had finally kept the promise earlier made to party stakeholders.
National Publicity Secretary of APC, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, who spoke to THISDAY by telephone yesterday said, “As a party we have not had time to look at the details of the board appointments, nonetheless, we are happy that it has finally come as promised by the president.
“Party members from across the county are being given the desired recognition and they are finally going to have the opportunity to be part of the government. The president promised at the last National Executive Committee meeting of the party that he would release these appointments. What it means is that he kept his words. So for that we thank the president.â€
On the criticisms that the appointments were not meticulously done and that some of the persons that made the list ought not to be there, the APC spokesman said the party would take time to study the list and make appropriate representations to Buhari.
