President Tinubu Suspends 3 Perm Secs Over Fake Agency Found Inside SGF’s Office
By Victor Idajil
President Bola Tinubu has suspended three permanent secretaries after the ICPC discovered another bogus agency operating from within the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume.
The ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, made this known on Friday while briefing journalists after meeting with the President at the State House.
According to him, the latest fake body is called the “National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office.” It was illegally given office space in the SGF’s premises.
The discovery came out of an ongoing probe into a separate fake agency, the “Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council,” allegedly run by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, also known as Adeyemi Matthew. About two weeks ago, the ICPC told the President in an interim report that Adeyemi Matthew was behind two other fake agencies.
Based on the new findings, President Tinubu ordered the immediate arrest of the promoter of the latest agency, Prince George Buchi Nwabueze. The ICPC said Nwabueze also uses other names including George Nathan, George Nathan Nwabueze, Hon. George Buchi Nwabueze, and George Nwabueze.
The three suspended permanent secretaries named are M.S Danjuma, Engineer Nadungu Gagare, and Richard P. Pheelangwah. The President said they were allegedly linked to how the fake agency operated.
Adamu added that the ICPC is working with the SGF’s office to find out how the office space was allocated to the non-existent agency.
On Wednesday, the Federal Executive Council also directed a forensic audit of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies to identify gaps and prevent similar cases.
Reacting, Muktar Modibbo, Secretary General of Follow the Money International, said the case shows Nigeria’s governance system lacks proper checks and balances.
“It’s not just about finding fake agencies. The real issue is that our system allows this to happen in the first place,” he told Weekend Trust. He noted that even advanced countries have had similar problems, but Nigeria needs to build stronger safeguards so such things don’t repeat.
Dr Umar Yakubu, Executive Director of the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity, also said the discovery was good but exposed failures in accountability.
He argued that the National Assembly should know exactly how many federal agencies exist because it approves their budgets. “If the National Assembly was active, it would have spotted this. It shouldn’t be left to the executive to investigate the executive,” he said.
Yakubu warned that if three fake agencies have been found, there could be many more. He urged lawmakers to tighten oversight and ensure government funds only go to legitimate agencies.
