Buhari’s Appointments: Presidency’s list inaccurate; several names omitted, others wrongly described

The Presidency on Saturday released what it called a ‘full list’ of all the appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari since he assumed office on May 29, 2015.

However, the 159-member list contains several errors and omissions, an ongoing review by online medium, Premium Times has shown.

At least 29 names of heads of agencies or parastatals were missing on the list while data provided for another five were incorrect.

The presidency had been challenged by a publication by BusinessDay which indicated that 81 of Buhari’s appointments are either from the North-east, North-west or North Central.

In apparent response to that report as well as several similar ones, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, released the list of 159 appointees on Saturday.

“The BusinessDay report that 81 of the president’s 100 political appointees are northerners is “misleading”, Adesina, said in the statement.

“To claim, suggest or attempt to insinuate that the President’s appointments are tilted in favour of a section of the country is simply untrue and certainly uncharitable.”

Adesina then provided a graphical illustration of different states and the number of top appointees from the respective states.

The graph shows that Ogun, a South-western state has the highest number of appointments with 21, followed by Imo, a South-eastern state; and Kano, a North-western state which both have 15 each. Edo, a South-south state, and the president’s home state of Katsina both have 14 appointees each.

Adesina’s 159-name list indicated that the South-west has the highest number of appointments at 42, followed by North-west, 30, and North-east, 24. South-east, North-central and South-south have 22, 21 and 20 respectively.

However, a closer look at the list provided by Adesina show several omissions and errors.

Below are some of these omissions spotted by Premium Times:

FRCN, NTA DGs missing.

The Director-General of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN, Mansur Liman, who is from Buhari’s hometown of Daura is omitted from the list.

Also omitted is Yakubu Ibn Muhammed, from Bauchi State, who was appointed the Director General of the Nigerian Television Authority.

Ismael Ahmed missing

The Senior Special Assistant, SSA to the President on Social Investment Programmes, Ismael Ahmed, who was appointed by the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, while Buhari was out of the country, is also missing on the list. Ahmed is from Kano, North-west.

It is not clear if this omission was deliberate as the announcement was done by Osinbajo.

Other SAs, SSAs missing

Ibrahim Bapetel Hassan, SSA Policy Research and Monitoring from Adamawa State; Tolu Ogunlesi, Special Assistant on Digital and New Media; Lauretta Onochie, Personal Assistant on Social Media; and Shaban Sharada, Personal Assistant on Broadcast Media (Radio) are all missing on the presidency’s ‘full list.’

Also missing are Nasir Saidu Adhama, Special Assistant on Youths & Students Affairs; Abdulrahman Bappa Yola, Special Assistant in the Office of the Vice President; and Bashir Ahmed, Personal Assistant on New Media, all from Kano and September 2016 appointees.

Meanwhile, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said the list of President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointees “will be updated periodically”.

“What matters is that the lie has been put to claim that 81 appointments were from the north out of 100,” Adesina told online medium, The Cable on Sunday.

“We shall continue to update the list periodically.”