President Bola Tinubu has ordered the immediate arrest of Prince George Buchi Nwabueze and the suspension of three permanent secretaries following the discovery of another fake agency operating within the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).
The suspended permanent secretaries are M.S. Danjuma, Nadungu Gagare and Richard P. Pheelangwah.
Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr Musa Aliyu, SAN, disclosed this on Friday while briefing State House correspondents after his second meeting with the President in two days.
Aliyu said the newly uncovered fake office, operating as the “National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office,” had been allocated office space within the OSGF premises without presidential approval and in violation of extant laws.
“Upon further briefing by ICPC to Mr President on the ongoing investigations into the fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council and procedural weaknesses in the public service, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has uncovered another fake agency and office operating under the name National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office, which has been illegally allocated office space within the premises of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” Aliyu said.
According to him, the discovery was made during the commission’s broader investigation, following an earlier directive from President Tinubu. The investigation identified Nwabueze as the promoter of the fake office and found that he operated under several aliases.
Aliyu said, “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.
“The promoter was discovered to also operate under four other variations of his name: George Nathan, George Nathan Nwabueze, Honourable George Buchi Nwabueze, Prince George Buchi Nwabueze and George Nwabueze,” Aliyu said.
The ICPC chairman said the commission had engaged the OSGF to obtain crucial information relating to the fake office and had briefed the President extensively on its findings.
“I have briefed Mr President comprehensively on these new developments. ICPC will continue with its investigations accordingly,” he said.
Aliyu further disclosed that President Tinubu had ordered immediate action against those allegedly linked to the fake agency.
He said, “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,” he said.
The latest development follows the exposure of the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIFC), whose self-styled Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, is facing prosecution over alleged forgery and impersonation.
An interim ICPC report submitted to President Tinubu on August 6, after a 30-day investigation, had also revealed two other 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 fake agency uncovered by the ICPC in the fallout from the PFIFC scandal, which came to public attention in early April.
