BY: Oluwaseye Ogunsanya
Claim
An X user claimed that all of President Bola Tinubu’s recent appointments are from one ethnic group.
Verdict
False. Our analysis shows that the recent appointments were spread across all regions in Nigeria except the South East.
Full Text
An X user named Anambra 1st Son claimed that all (10) of President Bola Tinubu’s recent appointments are from one ethnic group.
The Cable reported that Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesperson, announced the appointments in a series of press statements on Saturday, 13th July.
According to the report, some of the appointments are subject to senate confirmation.
The president has been criticised for not being fair to the North and South East in his recent appointments but The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka has said President Bola Tinubu has been fair to all regions of the country regarding appointments to key offices.
FactCheckAfrica seeks to verify the veracity of the claim due to its potential to mislead the public.
Verification
Using The Cable’s report on the appointments as a source for verifying this claim, FactCheckAfrica’s analysis showed that President Tinubu appointed 12 persons to head 10 federal agencies and a national project.
Of the 12 persons, (Six) are from the south west region of Nigeria. They are:
- Omolola Oloworaran as the new director-general (DG) of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) from Lagos State.
- Cornelius Adebayo as the new executive secretary and chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) from Ekiti State.
- Oluwaseun Faleye, the new MD/CEO of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).
- Mojisolaoluwa Alli-Macaulay, the executive director (operations) of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) from Lagos State
- Olufemi Adekanbi as the new project coordinator for the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) from Ondo State.
(Two) are from North West region of Nigeria, they are:
- Bashir Lado, the special adviser to the president on senate matters and a former senator representing Kano central.
- Baffa Dan Agundi, the new DG of the National Productivity Centre (NPC) from Kano State.
- Mainasara Umar Kogo, the new chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) from Katsina State.
(Two) are from the North Central region, they are:
- Tosin Adeyanju, the new executive secretary of the National Lottery Trust Fund (NLTF) from Kogi State
- Silas Agara, the new DG of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) from Nasarawa State.
(Two) are from the North East Region, they include: Saleh Abubakar, the new DG of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) from Yobe state, and Umar Mohammed, the DG of the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) from Bauchi State while Jobson Ewalefoh, the new DG of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) is from Edo State, South South Nigeria.
Conclusion
Contrary to the claim that all of President Bola Tinubu’s recent appointments are from one ethnic group, our analysis shows that the appointments were spread across all regions in Nigeria except South East. However, most of the appointees hail from the South West region.
Edited by: Habeeb Adisa
