The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, has said that appointments into political offices are the sole prerogative of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr. Lawal, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said the clarification followed a newspaper publication alleging fraudulent activities in the appointment of board of parastatals.

He said the report had alleged that some top officials in the Office of the SGF were extorting money from candidates seeking appointment into boards of parastatals and agencies.

According to him, the officials are alleged to be collecting as much as N50 million from candidates seeking appointments into the Board of Grade ‘A’ Federal Agencies and Parastatals.

“The Office of the SGF wishes to first clarify that it does not make political appointments, including those into Boards of Parastatals, as this is the prerogative of the President.

“The office is also not involved in employment activities, which is the responsibility of the Federal Civil Service Commission or the respective agencies as the case may be.

“For appointment of Boards of Federal Government Parastatals and Agencies, there is a Presidential Committee and its memberships are drawn from the six Geo-political Zones of the Federation,” he said.

Mr. Lawal said the committee, which liaised with all the states of the federation, had no official of the Office of the SGF as member.

He explained that the committee was the only body saddled with responsibility of identifying and recommending qualified and eligible nominees for board appointments for consideration by the president.

According to him, the committee is composed of men of unimpeachable integrity and honesty in whom Mr. Buhari reposes unqualified confidence to carry out this assignment to his satisfaction.

He therefore described the publication as baseless, mischievous and politically motivated, calling on members of the public to be vigilant of scammers using the name of the Office of the SGF to perpetrate fraud. (NAN)