The board of directors of Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL) has apologized to President Akufo-Addo for castigating his office over the purported appointment of a new CEO.

News was rife last week that the Presidency has appointed a new head of GOIL – Osei Prempeh – which angered the board since that responsibility partly lies on its doorsteps.

In a statement released in Accra over the weekend, and signed by the Board Chairman, Professor William Asomaning, it made clear that GOIL has a way of appointing its CEO, and so far as the board was concerned, the procedure had not been activated.

But government in a statement signed by Communications Director Eugene Arhin described as “unfortunate and needless” the statement from GOIL’s Board Chairman adding that the reaction should have been based on concrete evidence and not mere reports.

The statement added that the President, Nana Akufo-Addo “has not appointed a new CEO of GOIL, and when he decides to do so, it will be done in accordance with laid down procedures.”

The board has since retracted its statement against the presidency.

“The Board of Directors of the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), takes cognizance of the statement from the Office of the President and under the hand of the Acting Director of Communications, dated 28th February 2017, which statement has indicated that the publication on Ghana Web to the effect that His Excellency the President has appointed a new Chief Executive Officer of GOIL, is not true.

“To this end, we the members of the Board of Directors of GOIL, do hereby, render our sincere apologies to Your Excellency for any embarrassment caused by the Board’s Statement in response to the Ghana Web publication of 24th February 2017,” Professor Asomaning said in a statement.