Presidency, on Thursday, tendered an apology for the errors in the list of appointments released to counter the narrative about President Bola Tinubu’s alleged lopsided appointments.
President Tinubu’s appointments have been a topic of conversation lately, with opposition politicians accusing him of favouring the Yoruba over other Nigerians.
An APC lawmaker representing Borno South, Senator Ali Ndume, in a recent interview with Arise Television, accused Tinubu of violating Federal character principle in his appointments.
According to Ndume, he decided to call the President’s attention to his ‘lopsided appointments’ because, as a lawmaker, he has the right to criticize the President despite being members of the ruling party.
But in a swift reaction to counter the allegation, the Presidency released a list of Tinubu’s appointees and their geopolitical zones.
The list showed that the President had appointed 29 people from the South-West, his geo-political zone, 35 from the North West, 22 from the South-South, 16 from the South East, 25 from North Central, and 24 from the North East.
But the President’s critics have pointed out that the list was not comprehensive, as the name of a major appointee from the President’s home region was missing.
Omission of the President’s Chief of Staff, Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, from the list further strengthened the regional imbalance narrative against Tinubu’s administration, as the list clearly showed that the South East is highly underrepresented in his government.
As the document triggered debate on social media, the Special Adviser, Media & Public Communication/Spokesperson to the President, Sunday Dare, apologised for the errors in the list.
“We have noticed a number of errors in the list of appointments tweeted. We are sorry. We will provide an updated list later. Thank you,” Dare appealed to Nigerians on X.
But Dare did not offer any explanation regarding the omission of Gbajabiamila’s name from the list.
