Aso Rock In Turmoil: Gbajabiamila Denies ₦600m Appointment Racketeering Allegations Amid ₦27.4bn Grant Corruption Scandal

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ABUJA, NIGERIA — A fierce political warfare has erupted within the corridors of power at Aso Rock, forcing the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, into an aggressive defense mode.

The crisis centers on explosive allegations raised by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC). Adeyemi publicly accused Gbajabiamila of receiving ₦400 million by proxy—with a ₦200 million balance pending—to secure his appointment, alongside demands for a 48 percent kickback from the agency’s ₦27.4 billion take-off grant.

The revelation has triggered an instantaneous national uproar, with opposition elements, including supporters of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, demanding a full independent probe and calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address what they describe as unprecedented institutional corruption.

The Breakdown: The ₦600m Bureaucratic Extortion

Speaking at a bombshell press conference in Abuja, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi cracked open a window into a massive alleged appointment-racketeering ring operating right inside the presidency.

According to Adeyemi, the relationship between his office and the Chief of Staff broke down entirely because he refused to surrender a massive chunk of public funds to senior officials.

“The major rationale behind the disagreement between myself and the Chief of Staff is because he allegedly requested 48 percent of the take-off grant 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,” Adeyemi boldly alleged.

The Phantom Agency Counter-Claim

In a swift institutional pushback, Femi Gbajabiamila released a strongly worded official disclaimer disowning both Prince Adeyemi and the PFIPC. The Chief of Staff insisted that no such organization exists under the Tinubu administration and labeled Adeyemi’s claims as completely fraudulent, warning diplomatic missions and international organizations to cease all engagements with him.

However, the presidency’s denial has immediately triggered a secondary, far more troubling crisis regarding budget padding and administrative transparency.

Policy experts and opposition figures have quickly pointed out a massive contradiction: if the PFIPC is a “phantom” organization, how did it successfully secure official line items and funding allocations on pages 50 and 51 of the signed 2026 Appropriation Act?

“If the agency does not exist, yet found its way into the Nigerian national budget, what that means is that the entire 2026 appropriation budget is a fraud and should be discarded,” Adeyemi argued, challenging the government to explain how a fake agency secured space at the federal secretariat, recruitment approvals for hundreds of staff, and official bank accounts domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Tragic Twists And Calls For Independent Panels

Escalating the gravity of the scandal, Adeyemi further petitioned President Tinubu to set up an independent investigative panel comprising civil society organizations and international bodies.

He demanded a forensic review of the circumstances surrounding the mysterious death of Babatunde Tanimola—whom he identified as the central intermediary who handled the proxy cash transactions between himself and Gbajabiamila. Tanimola reportedly died in an Abuja hotel fire incident in October 2025, a death Adeyemi insists must be thoroughly re-examined alongside alleged assassination attempts on his own life.

The 2027 Political Fallout

The escalating scandal has quickly become heavy ammunition for the political opposition as alignment for the 2027 general elections begins to crystallize. Critics are pointing to the Aso Rock infighting as a stark reminder of systemic governance failure under the current administration, contrasting it with calls for structural reforms championed by opposition leaders like Atiku Abubakar.

With demands mounting for Gbajabiamila to step down temporarily to pave the way for an unhindered judicial inquiry, the presidency faces immense pressure to produce verifiable documentation to clear its name.

As the budgetary scandal deepens, 247ureports is actively requesting official copies of pages 50 and 51 of the fiscal document to bring our readers the unfiltered truth.

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