Presidential spokesman Sunday Dare has issued an apology on behalf of the Presidency over inaccuracies in the recently published list of appointments made by President Bola Tinubu since taking office on May 29, 2023.
The list, which was released to address allegations of regional bias in the President’s appointments, came in response to criticism from Senator Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South.
In an interview with Arise Television, Ndume accused President Tinubu of breaching the federal character principle—a claim the Presidency has strongly denied.
In a bid to clarify the administration’s stance, Dare, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, on Wednesday shared a breakdown of presidential appointments by geopolitical zone.
According to the list, 35 appointees are from the North West, 29 from the South West (President Tinubu’s home region), 25 from the North Central, 24 from the North East, 22 from the South-South, and 16 from the South East.
However, sharp-eyed observers quickly flagged key omissions in the document, including that of the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nandap.
Critics argued that these gaps further reinforced concerns of an imbalance—particularly with the apparent underrepresentation of the South East in federal appointments.
As the flawed list drew widespread attention and criticism on social media, Dare took to his X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday to issue a public apology, acknowledging the oversight and pledging to release a corrected version soon.
“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.
