President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the immediate arrest of Prince George Buchi Nwabueze and directed the suspension of three permanent secretaries following the discovery of another alleged unauthorised government office operating from the premises of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF).
The latest development was disclosed on Friday by the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, after briefing President Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
At the centre of the latest investigation is an organisation operating under the name National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office, which the ICPC says was unlawfully allocated office space within the OSGF without the required presidential authority.
According to the ICPC chairman, investigators stumbled on the office while probing the activities of the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), an organisation previously disowned by the Federal Government.
Aliyu said the investigation had established that the alleged Made-in-Nigeria office was connected to Nwabueze and had secured access to government premises with the involvement of suspected collaborators within the OSGF.
Following the briefing, President Tinubu directed security agencies to immediately arrest Nwabueze while investigations continue. The President also ordered the suspension of M.S. Danjuma, Engr. Nadungu Gagare and Richard P. Pheelangwah, pending further investigation into their alleged roles in the matter.
The ICPC’s latest discovery represents a significant expansion of a scandal that began with the exposure of the purported PFIPC and has now raised questions about how unauthorised entities were able to obtain government offices, official recognition and access to public institutions.
The investigation began after the Presidency announced on July 7 that Tinubu had directed the ICPC to investigate the activities of the purported PFIPC. The Presidency said the organisation had never been established by law, presidential instrument, executive approval or any other valid act of government.
The organisation’s self-styled Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, had presented himself as a presidential appointee.
The ICPC subsequently established that Adeyemi had never been appointed by the Federal Government and that the appointment letter and other documents used to support his claim were forged. The commission also found that the alleged PFIPC had unlawfully occupied offices and used official instruments associated with the former Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).
The investigation produced its first major interim report on August 6, when Aliyu told State House correspondents that investigators had uncovered two additional fictitious agencies allegedly created by Adeyemi.
They were identified as the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency/Public-Private Partnership.
The ICPC said forged legislative instruments were allegedly used to give the organisations the appearance of legality and to facilitate the opening of bank accounts. The commission also said it found no evidence that Federal Government funds had been approved or disbursed to the purported PFIPC.
The commission recommended Adeyemi’s prosecution and administrative sanctions against public officials whose acts, omissions or negligence allegedly facilitated the operation of the purported agency. It also called for reforms to strengthen verification procedures, internal controls and inter-agency oversight across government institutions.
The PFIPC controversy has already entered the criminal justice system.
On July 14, a Federal High Court in Abuja issued a bench warrant for Adeyemi after he failed to appear for his scheduled arraignment on an eight-count charge relating to alleged forgery, fraud and impersonation. He was subsequently arrested by police operatives in Osun State. The court fixed September 30 for his arraignment.
The charges include allegations that Adeyemi forged an appointment letter purportedly issued by President Tinubu and signed by the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, as well as other official documents.
Adeyemi has previously denied wrongdoing and said he was prepared to face the law and clear his name.
The controversy has also generated a separate legal dispute. Gbajabiamila filed a ₦15 billion defamation suit against Adeyemi over allegations made against him in connection with the purported agency. The Chief of Staff denied ever authorising anyone to demand or receive money on his behalf.
ICPC probes officials and government institutions
The anti-corruption commission’s investigation has gone beyond Adeyemi.
In July, the ICPC confirmed that it questioned Gbajabiamila as part of its efforts to determine how the purported PFIPC managed to operate from government facilities for an extended period. The commission said the investigation was aimed at establishing how the entity came to operate from within the Federal Secretariat despite the Presidency’s position that it was fraudulent.
The commission’s August interim findings identified weaknesses in government verification, inter-agency oversight and administrative processes. It said those weaknesses were allegedly exploited by Adeyemi and collaborators, with some public officials failing to conduct appropriate due diligence.
The ICPC, however, said it found no weakness in the systems of the State House or the Central Bank of Nigeria and no evidence that Federal Government funds were disbursed to the purported PFIPC.
The commission also identified suspected collaborators in a number of government institutions, including the OSGF, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the National Information Technology Development Agency.
A new complication: the Made-in-Nigeria office
The latest discovery concerning the National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office is particularly significant because the organisation has maintained a visible presence online and publicly presented itself as a government-backed initiative.
A website associated with the project identifies it as operating under the OSGF and lists George Buchi Nwabueze as National Coordinator and Executive Director. It also gives an address at B53, Ground Floor, Shagari House, Three Arms Zone, Abuja, within the OSGF premises.
Its published materials describe the project as an initiative intended to promote Nigerian-made products, support small and medium-sized enterprises, encourage local manufacturing and reduce dependence on imported goods.
More strikingly, the project’s publicly available framework says its national secretariat would operate under the supervision of the Permanent Secretary responsible for Political and Economic Affairs in the OSGF. A document published by the project also lists Nwabueze as National Project Coordinator and names other officials involved in its technical committee.
The website further states that the initiative is intended to operate from 2025 to 2030 and describes it as a strategic government programme.
These public claims now assume greater significance in light of the ICPC’s latest findings. The commission’s allegation is not simply that an individual used a government-sounding name; rather, investigators are examining how an organisation with an apparent physical presence inside the OSGF was able to operate there and what role government officials may have played in facilitating that presence.
The existence of the website and published project documents does not by itself establish that the project was unlawfully created. That question is now part of the investigation, and the allegations against Nwabueze and the suspended officials remain subject to due process.
Pheelangwah’s previous association with the project
One of the suspended officials, Richard P. Pheelangwah, has previously appeared publicly in connection with activities promoting Nigerian-made products.
Reports from 2024 quoted Pheelangwah, then Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Affairs in the OSGF, as saying Nigerian products were capable of meeting global standards and that increasing their international visibility could create jobs and strengthen the economy. The comments were made at an event associated with the promotion of the Made-in-Nigeria initiative.
The official federal permanent-secretary directory currently lists Richard P. Pheelangwah under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation and Engr. Nadungu Gagare under the OSGF.
The inclusion of the three permanent secretaries in Tinubu’s suspension order therefore places renewed attention on the administrative chain through which the alleged office obtained space and recognition.
The latest action is part of an effort by the Tinubu administration to determine how an organisation allegedly lacking legal authority could penetrate government structures.
When he ordered the original PFIPC investigation in July, the President directed the ICPC to complete its work within 30 days and submit a comprehensive report.
The commission’s subsequent findings have exposed not only alleged forgery and impersonation but also institutional weaknesses that allowed purported government bodies to acquire an appearance of legitimacy.
For the administration, the issue now goes beyond the fate of individual suspects. It raises questions about the integrity of government verification systems, the allocation of public offices, the use of government identities and letterheads, the creation of official-looking websites and the ability of unauthorised organisations to interact with ministries, departments and agencies.
Nwabueze’s ordered arrest and the suspension of the three permanent secretaries are administrative and investigative measures; they do not, by themselves, establish criminal guilt.
The ICPC is expected to continue examining how the alleged Made-in-Nigeria office was established, who authorised or facilitated its occupation of government premises, what official documents it used and whether any public funds, privileges or government instruments were obtained through misrepresentation.
The commission has also indicated that its investigation into the wider fake-agency network remains active and that additional persons could face action if evidence establishes their involvement.
The emerging picture is consequently larger than the discovery of a single allegedly unauthorised office. What began with the purported PFIPC has now expanded into examination of how fictitious or improperly constituted entities could exploit weaknesses inside Nigeria’s public-service machinery.
President Tinubu’s latest directive signals that the administration intends to pursue the investigation beyond the individuals who allegedly created or promoted such entities and into the officials and institutional processes that allowed them to gain a foothold inside government.
For the ICPC, the central question is increasingly clear: how could organisations that the Federal Government says were never lawfully created obtain the trappings of government authority from within government itself?
That question – and the identities of everyone who may have enabled the alleged scheme—remains at the heart of the continuing investigation.