Boards List: We Were Not Carried Along – Oyegun

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, said yesterday that the party was not involved in the final compilation of the controversial list of board appointments that contained the names of dead Nigerians.

Chief Odigie-Oyegun, who was reacting to the uproar that was generated by the list, said if the party had been carried along, the embarrassment would have been averted.

The party chairman spoke in Abuja while hosting the APC correspondents in his house.

“We have followed the issue of board appointments and I think that issue has raised a lot controversy already. The only thing I want to add is that it is pretty obvious that the party was not involved in the final stages of the compilation of that list.

“Yes, we sent at the initial stage and I am talking of a period of two years ago. We demanded for every state to make 50 nominations which were sent to the committee in charge of the list for the purpose. They completed the initial exercise at the time but since then a lot has happened.

“People have changed parties, people have died, we have three new governors that were not there when the list was compiled. Therefore, it was clear that there was obvious need for us to look at the final outcome of the exercise.

“But we are not fortunate to participate on that final stage otherwise, it is quite clear such would not have occurred. It is my sincere hope that we will be fully involved in the review that has to now take place and any other exercise moving forward from this date,” he noted.

The chairman of the ruling party equally pointed out that considering the fact that this year will see the build up to the 2019 general elections, the party will hit ground running. “I will resume on Monday and we are going to hit the ground running. We all know that this year is obviously going to be an active year for elections,” he said.