The presidency on Wednesday said it would investigate the circumstances that led to the removal of Alhaji Bolaji Miftah Are, a commissioner-nominee from Lagos State in the board of the Federal Character Commission (FCC).
The development, our correspondent gathered, was already causing ripples in the presidency as it appears that President Muhammadu Buhari was misled in taking the decision.
Are, whose name was among 37 FCC nominees published by the presidency on April 28, was replaced by Wasiu Kayode Bawallah.
In the original list released by the presidency and sighted by our correspondent, Are’s name was number 25 on the list.
Findings by our correspondent showed that Are was nominated for the position by former governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode.
However, some leaders of the party in Lagos, who still has political scores to settle with Ambode due to the fall-out of the 2019 governorship election, allegedly presented false documents to presidency officials, claiming that the nominee was dead.
A civil society organisation, Justice for Progress and Development (JPD), had Thursday petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, over a fraud allegedly perpetrated by some leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos in the list sent by the president to the Senate for confirmation.
In the petition dated Thursday, May 14, spokesperson of the group, Chief Martin Oru-Benson, said while President Buhari announced the name of Are Miftah Bolaji as the commissioner for Lagos State under the Federal Character Commission, some chieftains of the APC in Lagos went through the backdoor and replaced his name with Wasiu Kayode.
