UPDATED: Tinubu Orders Arrest of Nwabueze, Suspension of 3 Perm Sec. as ICPC Uncovers Another Fake Office in OSGF

…Suspends 3 permanent secretaries with immediate effects

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the immediate suspension of three permanent secretaries and the arrest of a man allegedly behind another fake 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, while the President ordered the arrest of Prince George Buchi Nwabueze.

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 meeting with President Tinubu for the second consecutive day.

According to Aliyu, the commission uncovered a fictitious office operating as the “National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office.”

He said the office had been allocated space within the OSGF without presidential approval and in violation of existing laws.

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Aliyu explained that the discovery was made during the ICPC’s ongoing investigation into fake government agencies, following an earlier directive from President Tinubu.

“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 further disclosed that Nwabueze allegedly operated under several variations of his name, including George Nathan, George Nathan Nwabueze, Honourable George Buchi Nwabueze and Prince George Buchi Nwabueze.

Aliyu said the commission had engaged the OSGF to obtain relevant information concerning the fake office and had briefed the President on its findings.

Following the briefing, he said Tinubu directed the immediate arrest of Nwabueze and the suspension of the three permanent secretaries.

The latest discovery comes amid an ongoing ICPC investigation into fictitious government bodies triggered by the exposure of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIFC).

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The council’s alleged Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi, is currently facing prosecution over allegations of forgery and impersonation.

An interim ICPC report submitted to President Tinubu on August 6, following a 30-day investigation, had also uncovered two other allegedly 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 now the fourth alleged fake agency uncovered by the ICPC since the investigation into the PFIFC scandal began.