Nigeria’s former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has called on President Bola Tinubu to suspend his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, over an allegation that he collected N400 million through a proxy and demanded an additional N200 million to facilitate the appointment of Adeniyi Adeyemi as director-general of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential hopeful made the call in a statement on Tuesday issued by his spokesman, Mr. Paul Ibe.
Atiku said Mr Tinubu must lead by example by holding his own appointees accountable for their actions.
According to the ADC chieftain, the chief of staff’s claim that PFIPC does not exist as an agency only widened the government’s credibility gap and “created more problems for the government.”
“How can you allocate N27.4 billion in the budget to a government agency that doesn’t exist without leaving more questions than answers,” Mr Atiku said.
He noted that allocating public funds to an agency that does not exist raised questions about the credibility of the entire 2026 national budget.
“This alleged colossal budgetary fraud cannot be swept under the carpet by weak and unconvincing explanations by the chief of staff,” he said.
He urged Tinubu to suspend Mr Gbajabiamila and order an independent investigation to uncover the full truth behind what he described as a “national scandal.”
Atiku stated: “Good governance is based on transparency and accountability and you can’t achieve that by protecting your family and friends.”
“President Tinubu must lead by example by holding his chief of staff to the same standards of accountability as other public officials. N27 billion is not a joke.”
“The rule of law must prevail in this issue. Let President Tinubu prove to Nigerians that he is sincerely committed to accountability in his administration,” he added.
Earlier, Mr Adeyemi alleged at a press conference that Mr Gbajabiamila demanded 48 per cent of the PFIPC’s N27.4 billion take-off grant.
“The major rationale behind the disagreement between myself and the chief of staff is that he allegedly requested 48 per cent of the take-off grant (N27,395,510,136) from the same agency, which he denies, to which I rejected after he collected a total sum of 400 million by proxy, with a remaining balance of 200 million to secure the said appointment,” Mr Adeyemi said.
While reacting to the allegation on June 11, Mr Gbajabiamila, in a statement, distanced himself from PFIPC and denied knowledge of appointing Mr Adeyemi to head the agency.
He stated: “The unsuspecting public is hereby advised to note that such an office does not exist under this administration and no appointment has been made in that regard.
“Foreign and diplomatic missions, financial and multilateral institutions, development organisations, security agencies and so on are hereby advised to note the contents of this notice.”
