President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the suspension of three permanent secretaries and the arrest of a man accused of promoting another fake government agency operating within the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, OSGF.
The affected permanent secretaries are M.S. Danjuma, Nadungu Gagare and Richard P. Pheelangwah.
Tinubu also directed the immediate arrest of George Buchi Nwabueze, identified by investigators as the promoter of the fictitious agency.
The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, Dr Musa Aliyu, SAN, disclosed the development to State House correspondents on Friday after briefing the President for the second time in two days.
Aliyu said the agency uncovered the fake office in the course of its broader investigation into fictitious government bodies.
According to him, the organisation operated under the name National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office and had allegedly been allocated office space within the OSGF without presidential approval.
“The fake agency office, National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office, was promoted by one George Buchi Nwabueze, with active suspected collaborators in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, contrary to extant laws and without authorisation of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” Aliyu said.
The ICPC chairman said Nwabueze allegedly operated under several variations of his name, including George Nathan, George Nathan Nwabueze, Honourable George Buchi Nwabueze, Prince George Buchi Nwabueze and George Nwabueze.
Aliyu said the commission had engaged the OSGF to obtain relevant information concerning the fake office and had briefed Tinubu on its findings.
Following the briefing, the President directed the immediate arrest of Nwabueze and the suspension of the three permanent secretaries.
“Mr President has directed as follows: the immediate arrest of Prince George Buchi Nwabueze; the immediate suspension of the following permanent secretaries; M.S. Danjuma, Nadungu Gagare, and Richard P. Pheelangwah,” Aliyu said.
The latest discovery is part of an investigation that began after the exposure of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIFC, a fictitious body whose alleged Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi, is facing prosecution over allegations of forgery and impersonation.
An interim ICPC report submitted to Tinubu on August 6 after a 30-day investigation had also identified two other alleged fictitious bodies, the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public-Private Partnership.
The National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office is therefore the fourth alleged fake agency uncovered since the PFIFC scandal emerged in April.
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