FG begins replacement of dead appointees

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, to review the list of appointees to governing boards of agencies and parastatals to weed out the anomalies.

Mustapha had announced the appointment of 209 board chairmen and 1,258 board members into a slew of agencies on December 29, 2017.

However, on closer inspection by the media, it was discovered that at least six of the appointees were already deceased.

The presidency later pulled the list and explained that the anomalies were as a result of the list being compiled in 2015 and reviewed in 2016.

According to a report by TheCable, President Buhari's Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, revealed on January 5, 2018, that the president ordered Mustapha to fix the errors in the list.

He revealed that the new list will be in compliance with statutes and acts of the agencies where the appointments will take effect.

He said, "The list is being reviewed against the statutes and the acts establishing the various government agencies.

"It is to ensure compliance with the various acts establishing the agencies. Obviously, that (replacement of the dead appointees) is also going on simultaneously."

Another dead appointee

The president's spokesman also disclosed to TheCable that another appointee who was in the error-strewn list had died.

Without mentioning the subject's name, he said, "He was from Adamawa, a senior member of the APC. I can't remember his name but I know that he was a man of Buhari for so many years."

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Error-filled list

The list didn't just have dead people as appointees, there were also cases of duplications of names, appointment of people of questionable characters and appointment to the already-privatised National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) in Kogi State.