The All Progressives Congress (APC) has denied being fully involved in the selection process of President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent board appointments. National Chairman of the party, Mr John Oyegun, told reporters on Sunday in Abuja that the APC was involved in the early stage of the process but not consulted before the final list was released.
“It is pretty obvious that the party was not involved in the final stages of the compilation of that list,” he said. “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,” Oyegun explained.
He, however, said that the last the party knew about was since that time and insisted that they were not carried along in subsequent processes.
The APC chairman added that there have been lots of new developments since the last two years within the party and emphasised the need to review the list.
He said: “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.”
President Buhari had approved the constitution of the governing boards of agencies and parastatals in December 2017, the largest set of appointments since he assumed office.
The appointment list, however, generated triggered criticism from the opposition party and other Nigerians as it contained the names of some dead persons.
The Presidency had also explained the reasons why the names of the dead people were on the list which was released by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said in a statement that the list was compiled before President Buhari took ill and was released without any alteration.
He added that the President had set up a committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to review and reflect the interest of some governors who said they were not carried along in the process.
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