The list was compiled in 2015, says Garba Shehu on dead board appointees

Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media, says there is nothing scandalous about the appointments made by his principal into boards of government agencies.

He said this in reaction to the outcry over the inclusion of at least four dead persons in the list of appointees.

Speaking with journalists on Saturday, Shehu said the list dates back to 2015 when Buhari asked the state chapters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to forward names for appointments.

“There is nothing scandalous or extraordinary about what has happened,” he said.

“This list is a historical list. It dates back to 2015. The President asked all state chapters of the APC to forward 50 names for appointments to the SGF through the national headquarters of the party.

“The then SGF, Babachir Lawal, presented the report in October 2016, one year after he was commissioned.

“The report was disputed by state governors who said they were not carried along or the list was not representative enough.

“So, the President constituted a new panel chaired by the Vice President. The panel has some governors and some leaders of the party as members. They were asked to go and review the list.

“The panel did its work and turned in its report early in 2017. The President had his health challenges during that period.

“Now that he is back and strong, he asked the SGF to go and release the list. So the new SGF did what he was asked to do.”

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), reacting to the dead appointees brouhaha, has said the All Progressives Congress (APC) federal government is confused.

In a statement, Kola Ologbondiyan, spokesman of the PDP, described the appointments as “an unpardonable national embarrassment”.

“The development has further confirmed PDP’s position that the APC administration is completely confused, disorganized and grossly incompetent,” the statement read in part.