The Nigerian Presidency has issued a public apology following the discovery of inaccuracies in the list of federal appointments recently released by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
The list was initially shared to counter accusations of nepotism and show the regional distribution of political appointments. However, it stirred further controversy when observers pointed out that some key figures—most notably the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila—were missing from the document.
Critics, including Senator Ali Ndume of Borno South, had earlier accused the President of ignoring the federal character principle, which ensures fair representation of all regions in government positions. In a recent interview with Arise TV, Ndume claimed that the appointments were skewed in favor of Tinubu’s ethnic group.
To address the backlash, the Presidency published a breakdown showing the number of appointments per geopolitical zone: South West (29), North West (35), South South (22), South East (16), North Central (25), and North East (24). Despite this attempt to prove balanced representation, the missing names further fueled allegations of bias—especially towards the underrepresentation of the South East.
As social media users and political commentators began highlighting the omissions, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, took to X (formerly Twitter) to acknowledge the oversight.
“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,” he wrote, without offering reasons for the exclusion of Gbajabiamila.
The presidency has promised to release a corrected and comprehensive list soon.
