Nigerian President Bola Tinubu ordered the immediate arrest of a man accused of operating a fake government agency and suspended three permanent secretaries, anti-corruption officials said on Friday, in the latest move against fictitious entities uncovered within the presidency’s administrative offices.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) said it had discovered an unauthorized office called the National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office operating within the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) in Abuja.
ICPC Chairman Musa Aliyu told reporters at the presidential villa that Tinubu had directed the immediate arrest of Prince George Buchi Nwabueze, identified as the promoter of the fake office, who Aliyu said was found to have operated under several other aliases. Tinubu also ordered the immediate suspension of permanent secretaries M.S. Danjuma, Nadungu Gagare and Richard Pheelangwah.
The discovery is the latest in an expanding ICPC investigation into fictitious agencies operating within government structures. The probe began after the exposure of another fake body, the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, whose self-declared director-general, Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, is being prosecuted on forgery and impersonation charges.
Aliyu said the commission submitted an interim report to Tinubu on Aug. 6, after a 30-day investigation that had already uncovered two other fake entities, the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public-Private Partnership. He said the investigation remains active and further findings could prompt additional action.
The case has drawn attention to gaps in oversight within Nigeria’s federal civil service, days after the government approved a broader forensic review of administrative processes and internal controls following the earlier fake-agency revelations.
