2027: “We Were Not Contacted,” Agency Directors Reject Coalition Claim

Some directors and senior officials of some federal government agencies have disowned reports that chief executives of all federal agencies and parastatals have formed a coalition to spearhead President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign, saying none of them has been contacted, invited or approached to be part of any such coalition.

LEADERSHIP reports that the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, were reacting to a report claiming that a “Forum of Chief Executives of Federal Parastatals” had resolved to work for Tinubu’s re-election and had begun collaborating with the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

The report said the coalition had engaged the APC National Chairman, Prof Nentawe Yilwatda, and members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC), while also claiming that the agency chiefs had established a campaign structure for grassroots mobilisation, messaging, election planning, monitoring and management.

However, some directors in the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Department of Development Control, and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) said they had no knowledge of the alleged arrangement and had not been contacted to participate in it.

One of the directors said:

“I have seen the report, but nobody has contacted me to be part of any coalition. I have not received any invitation or communication concerning such an arrangement. “Everybody has his political interest and the people he supports. If some chief executives have decided to form a coalition, those of us speaking here have not been approached and cannot be said to be part of it.”

Another director said the report should not be interpreted as representing the position of all heads of government agencies.

“If there is such a coalition, I have not heard of it from anybody who has contacted me. I have not attended any meeting on it, and nobody has asked me to join or participate in any campaign structure,” the official said.

A director in the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation similarly said he was unaware of any arrangement involving directors of government agencies to work collectively for Tinubu’s re-election.

“I have not been contacted to be part of any coalition. I cannot speak for those who may have attended their meeting, but I know that I have not been contacted, and I am not aware of any coalition involving us,” the official said.

The directors stressed that while individual government officials could have political preferences and support candidates of their choice, such preferences should not automatically be presented as a collective position of government agencies or all their directors.

“It would be wrong to say that all heads of government agencies have formed a coalition simply because some chief executives may have taken such a decision. People have their individual political interests.

“If some people are supporting President Tinubu, that is their political choice. But none of us should be included in a coalition we were never contacted about,” one of them said.

The officials also drew a distinction between the statutory responsibilities of government agencies and the personal political activities of their chief executives, warning against presenting government institutions as political structures.

They said any group claiming to represent chief executives of federal agencies should clearly identify its membership and distinguish those who actually participated from officials who were not contacted.

The report attributed the leadership of the alleged coalition to the Chairman of the Forum of Chief Executives of Federal Parastatals and Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI), Dr Kazeem Kolawole Raji.

It further quoted the forum as saying the initiative was designed to promote collaboration, coordination and exchange of ideas among heads of government agencies while supporting mobilisation and election-related activities ahead of 2027.

However, the directors who spoke said the reported activities should not be construed as evidence that all federal agency chiefs had agreed to work for Tinubu’s re-election.

They maintained that, unless they were individually contacted and consented to participate, their names and offices should not be associated with any political coalition or campaign structure.