President Muhammadu Buhari

Controversial facts emerged Wednesday that the list of nominees sent to the Senate for appointment as members of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) included the name of a dead former member of the House of Representatives, Tobias Okwuru Chukwuemeka, from Ebonyi State.
The late lawmaker’s name was number 12 in the list of 38 persons read out to the hearing of senators on Tuesday.

Okwuru, who died in February 2020, at the age of 59 had acted as chairman of the House Committee on Environment in the lower chamber where he represented Ikwo/Ezza Federal Constituency between 2011 and 2015.

Appointment of dead persons into key positions of the government is, however, not strange since President Muhammadu Buhari became President in May 2015.

In 2017, the list of appointments into the boards of federal agencies and corporations released was enmeshed in controversy after the names of five persons said to be dead appeared on it.

The dead persons alleged to be on that list were Senator Francis Okpozo (Delta), Rev. Father Christopher Utau (Benue), DIG Donald Ugbaja (retd), Garba Attahiru (Kaduna) and Umar Dange (Sokoto).

The President of the Senate, it was learnt, would in a communication draw Buhari’s attention to the error with a view to replacing Okwuru when the Senate resumes plenary from its indefinite adjournment.