President Bola Tinubu has ordered the immediate arrest of George Buchi Nwabueze and suspended three permanent secretaries after the ICPC exposed another bogus agency operating inside the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
The suspended officials are M.S. Danjuma, Nadungu Gagare, and Richard P. Pheelangwah.
ICPC Chairman, Dr. Musa Aliyu, SAN, broke the news to State House correspondents on Friday following his second briefing of the President in two days. He said the Commission discovered an office bearing the name “National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office” that was allocated space within the OSGF without presidential approval and in breach of government rules.
The discovery came in the course of a wider probe into the earlier exposed fake “Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council” and other gaps in public service procedures.
According to Aliyu, Nwabueze promoted the fake office and had suspected collaborators within the OSGF. The Commission also found that he operated under several aliases, including George Nathan and Prince George Buchi Nwabueze.
“We have briefed Mr President comprehensively on these new developments. ICPC will continue with its investigations accordingly,” Aliyu said.
Acting on the briefing, the President directed that Nwabueze be arrested immediately and that the three permanent secretaries be suspended pending further action, according to Leadership Newspaper.
This is the fourth fictitious agency uncovered since the scandal broke in April. The first was the PFIPC, whose self-styled Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, is currently facing prosecution for forgery and impersonation. An ICPC interim report submitted to the President on August 6 also identified two other fake bodies: the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public-Private Partnership.
The Commission said it is still tracing all officials who facilitated office allocation and access for the fake agencies within government.
The Presidency described the action as part of ongoing efforts to shut down fraudsters using the name of government to deceive Nigerians and to correct procedural lapses in the civil service.
