Crime
Tinubu’s Chief Of Staff Gbajabiamila In Fresh N54 billion Oil Revenue Scandal
Mr Gbajabiamila has been implicated in corruption scandals across borders, including in the U.S., where he was disbarred by the State Bar of Georgia.
President Bola Tinubu’s chief of staff, Femi Gbajamila, illegally cornered tens of billions of naira in oil and gas royalty from Nigeria’s thriving oil regulatory commission after citing a fake law for the president’s approval, documents seen by Peoples Gazette showed.
Weeks after Mr Tinubu took the oath of office in 2023, his chief of staff began canvassing for money, knocking on the doors of highly lucrative agencies like the Nigeria Revenue Service (formerly Federal Inland Revenue Service), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (the agency in charge of the nation’s maritime operations) and Nigeria Customs Service, sources acquainted with the matter told The Gazette.
The Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission was not left out of the financial push as Mr Gbajabiamila drafted a memo requesting that four per cent of the cost of collection (annual revenue generated from the NUPRC) be split into two parts: 2.5 per cent for its operations and routine capital expenditure, and 1.5 per cent for capital expenditure.
The language ringfencing the 1.5 per cent, equal to N54 billion, was vague, as Mr Gbajabiamila said it was for “upgrading of crude oil and gas metering and transparency systems”. What he meant by transparency systems for such a humongous amount was not immediately clear.
“Mr President has directed that the Budget Office and the Accountant General of the Federation implement the approval in paragraph 2.a. above and ring fence the 1.5 per cent which may only be utilised for upgrading crude oil and gas metering and transparency systems upon obtaining relevant approvals,” Mr Gbajabiamila stated in a memo dated July 4, 2023.
Mr Gbajabiamila justified his request by citing a section of the Petroleum Industry Act 2023 to support his directive.
“The authority to collect these fees is vested in statute—Section 24(2)(c) of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) (2023). However, the specific percentage collectable is subject to presidential approval,” Mr Gbajabiamila said in the July 2023 memo.
Checks by The Gazette revealed the section contains language that does not in any way correlate with the authorisation to claim tens of billions of naira from the nation’s coffers.
“The source of the commission Fund shall be as follows–( c) cost of collection by the commission,” stated PIA 2023 Section 24 (2c) that Mr Gbajabiamila cited in a letter to the Ministry of Finance and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to lay claim to N54 billion.
When asked for comments, the presidency defended Mr Gbajabiamila, saying he only carried out the president’s instructions, which he claimed were within the ambit of the law.
The presidency avoided commenting on the falseness of the cited law, instead insisting that the N54 billion illegally received was with the president’s say-so and that there was no “smoking gun” on the matter.
“Gbajabiamila did not commandeer any money,” Bayo Onanuga told The Gazette on Monday. “The presidential order given to the NUPRC is within the right of the Mr President as president and C-in-C.”
Further checks by The Gazette showed that even the president lacked such powers to direct NUPRC’s revenue accrual and capital expenditure appropriation.
That responsibility was assigned to the National Assembly under Section 24(1) of the PIA 2023, stating, “The commission shall maintain a fund into which money accruing to the commission shall be paid, and all expenditures of the commission shall be subject to appropriation by the National Assembly.”
The president, according to the cited law, has no business with directing how the cost of collection is shared, let alone laying claim to its 1.5 per cent.
The cost of collection, which was N98 billion in 2022, increased significantly to N145 billion following Mr Tinubu’s unification of the official and black market exchange rates.
Whether Mr Tinubu’s action constitutes an overreach of his constitutional powers remains to be seen and can only be determined by a competent court.
Mr Gbajabiamila has been implicated in corruption scandals across borders, including in the U.S., where he was disbarred by the State Bar of Georgia after allegedly stealing money from a client.
For months, Mr Gbajabiamila ignored summonses from the State Bar to answer questions regarding the theft. He subsequently stopped paying his membership fee after his client reported him to the Bar.
His actions led to a five-year suspension from the Bar in 2015 and ultimately led to outright termination in 2020 after the Bar determined it could no longer condone Mr Gbajamila’s ethical lapses.
In 2022, Mr Gbajabiamila was accused of accepting $2 million in cash bribes (as the speaker of the House of Representatives) to secure passage of the new Petroleum Industry Bill, despite protests from host communities.
In his latest financial scandal, the president’s chief of staff is battling fraud allegations and fighting to survive a N400 million bribery scandal that has engulfed his political career.
Adeniyi Adeyemi, director-general of a controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), accused Mr Gbajabiamila of collecting N400 million through a proxy and demanding an additional N200 million to secure his appointment as director.
The allegation arose after Mr Gbajabiamila released a statement on June 11 denying that the PFIPC (which appeared on pages 50 and 51 of the appropriation budget) existed and that the president was unaware of Mr Adeyemi’s appointment.
Mr Adeyemi said Mr Gbajabiamila was stung by his refusal to give him 48 per cent commission of PFIPC ‘s N27.7 billion grant and hence, sought to discredit the council and humiliate his person.
“The major rationale behind the disagreement between myself and the chief of staff is because 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 in a statement last month.
Mr Adeyemi said it was impossible for an agency that did not officially exist to be issued such a grant at the president and chief of staff’s directive.
He said, “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.”
The president has ordered that the allegations be thoroughly investigated and concluded within 30 days. He said persons found culpable in the corruption would be prosecuted.
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This is as the agency said terrorist financiers were opening bank accounts in women’s names as well as using phone numbers for mobile banking or account alerts that are not registered to the account holder or the true beneficiary.
The disclosures are contained in the NFIU’s 2025 Annual Report, obtained by The PUNCH from a top official.
According to the report, the crowdfunding scheme involves foreign-based facilitators using social media platforms to solicit donations under the guise of humanitarian relief or educational support, before moving the funds through multiple layers to terrorist operatives in Nigeria.
The NFIU said hundreds of sympathisers were typically encouraged to make relatively small donations, ranging from $50 to $500, through PayPal pages or conventional bank accounts, with the amounts deliberately kept low enough to evade automated anti-money laundering alerts.
“The following is a case study on Crowdfunding Network identified during the year: A foreign-based facilitator runs social-media campaigns claiming humanitarian relief or educational support and uses encrypted apps (Telegram, Signal) to share links to convincing PayPal pages or standard bank accounts.
“Hundreds of sympathiser donors contribute $50–$500 each, amounts small enough to avoid most automated AML alerts,” the report read.
The funds are subsequently pooled into a “master account” controlled by a senior member of the group living legally abroad.
“When the pool reaches a threshold, that account becomes the hub for onward movement,” the report stated.
The NFIU said the funds were then fragmented into dozens of smaller payments and transferred through International Money Transfer Operators and remittance applications to a network of money mules in Nigeria.
It identified students, small-business owners and relatives among those used as mules, noting that the strategy was designed to avoid reporting thresholds and obscure the origin and destination of the funds.
“Rather than sending one large transfer, the senior member fractures the funds and sends dozens of sub-threshold payments through IMTOs and remittance apps to a network of money mules in Nigeria; students, small-business owners, or relatives, avoiding reporting triggers.
“Upon receipt, the money was either converted to cash, used to purchase dual-use items such as motorcycles, fertilisers and satellite internet equipment, or transferred through mobile banking channels to logistics managers and field operatives,” it added.
The report described the final stage as the “integration” of the funds into terrorist operational financing.
The Unit also identified the use of gender-based proxy accounts as another emerging terrorist financing technique, with terrorists opening bank accounts in women’s names while male commanders or logistics managers secretly control them.
“Terrorist financiers are opening bank accounts in women’s names while male commanders and logistics managers secretly control them.
“They exploit cultural norms that make women less likely to be suspected by authorities, using wives, sisters, or female associates as fronts to distance illicit funds from the true operatives.
“This tactic functions as identity laundering: women’s accounts are managed by men who hold ATM cards, mobile-banking credentials, and PINs, while the women often remain unaware of the transactions and volumes,” the report stated.
The report further revealed that terrorist facilitators were using telephone numbers that were not registered to the account holders or actual beneficiaries for mobile banking and transaction alerts.
It said pre-registered SIM cards, numbers registered to deceased persons and SIMs linked to gender-based proxies were being used to break the connection between bank accounts, SIM cards and Bank Verification Numbers.
“Terrorist facilitators use phone numbers for mobile banking or account alerts that are not registered to the account holder or the true beneficiary.
“They bypass the security link between SIM cards and BVNs by using pre-registered SIMs, SIMs registered to deceased people, or SIMs tied to gender-based proxies. This severs the audit trail: when a transaction is flagged, investigators trace the phone to an unrelated person, letting the real facilitator stay anonymous and continue operations,” it stated.
The NFIU also uncovered sophisticated methods of disguising terrorist transactions through detailed or coded narrations.
It said cells, particularly those linked to the Islamic State West Africa Province, used precise transaction descriptions to maintain what analysts described as an internal accounting system.
According to the report, frequent logistics-related payments with detailed narrations were often sent from a single source to multiple recipients, reflecting a structured financial system within the terrorist network.
“Terrorist cells, particularly those linked to ISWAP, routinely use precise, professional-sounding transaction narrations to maintain internal accounting. Operating like “shadow states” with strict bureaucratic controls, they require detailed descriptions so field commanders can justify expenses to central financial controllers. Although truthful narrations appear counterintuitive, they create an internal audit trail; analysts repeatedly observe high-frequency, logistics-related payments with accurate narrations sent from a single source to multiple recipients,” the report said.
However, the NFIU said some facilitators used innocuous words, secret codes and alphanumeric strings in transaction descriptions, sometimes switching between languages, to conceal the purpose of payments and evade automated bank filters.
“Transaction descriptions employ innocuous words, secret codes, or alphanumeric strings to conceal intent. Facilitators use this coded language, often switching languages to evade banks’ automated keyword filters that flag terms like ‘Jihad,’ ‘Arms,’ or ‘Boko.’
“This practice obscures the true purpose of transfers, preventing detection and enabling continued financing,” it said.
The NFIU said its risk and crime analysis during the year identified an increasingly interconnected threat landscape involving financial crime, technology and cross-border activity.
It noted that fraud remained a dominant predicate offence, with growing cases of Ponzi schemes, fraudulent crowdfunding arrangements, cryptocurrency-enabled investment scams and hacking-related fraud.
The Unit said the schemes increasingly exploited fintech onboarding gaps, including tiered accounts requiring minimal identification, while digital platforms were used to rapidly recruit victims and move funds.
The report also highlighted persistent vulnerabilities in public sector financial management, including the diversion of state and local government funds through accounts belonging to finance officers and associated third parties.
It identified procurement processes and cash transactions as significant risk areas, saying the latter complicated audit trails and efforts to trace illicit assets.
The NFIU said its findings were translated into targeted advisories, executive alerts and strategic intelligence products to support competent authorities, reporting entities and policy responses.
Six suspected members of a gang of gunmen terrorising Amiyi Community and neighbouring towns in Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State have been killed by a joint security task force.
The gunmen met their end after security operatives, acting on intelligence gathered over several days, tracked them to their camp around the River Niger creek.
The operation involved personnel of the Nigeria Police Force Rapid Response Squad, Awkuzu; Department of State Services (DSS); 302 Artillery Regiment, Onitsha; Nigerian Navy personnel from Ogbaru; and Agunachamba operatives from the community.
The security team trekked for about four hours through difficult terrain and dense palm forest before reaching the suspected criminal camp.
On sighting the operatives, the gunmen opened fire, triggering a prolonged gun battle.
At the end of the encounter, six suspected members of the group were neutralised, while others fled, some reportedly with gunshot wounds.
Two pump-action guns and charms were recovered from the camps, while structures believed to have been used by the gang were subsequently dismantled.
However, the operation came at a cost, as one security operative was killed and another injured after an explosive device suspected to have been planted in the area detonated.
The injured operative is receiving treatment in a hospital.
The Anambra State Commissioner of Police, CP Nnanna Oji Ama, commended the security personnel and community-based operatives for their courage and resilience, describing the operation as a demonstration of the importance of intelligence sharing, inter-agency cooperation and community support in tackling violent crime.
He commiserated with the family and colleagues of the fallen operative and wished the injured officer a speedy recovery.
The Commissioner assured residents that security agencies would sustain intelligence-led operations to dismantle criminal camps, recover illegal weapons and prevent armed groups from establishing operational bases across Anambra State.
Operatives of the Enugu State Police Command have rescued three victims of abduction and recovered their Lexus RX350, two locally made firearms and ammunition following a hot pursuit of suspected kidnappers in Enugu.
The operation was carried out by operatives of the Anti-Cultism Sub-Unit of the Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU), with support from members of the Neighbourhood Watch Group and local residents.
According to a statement by the Command’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Daniel Ndukwe, the operation followed credible intelligence received at about 1:30 a.m. on August 18, 2026, while the operatives were conducting crime-prevention patrols along the Port Harcourt Expressway.
The information concerned the carjacking and abduction of occupants of a Lexus RX350 by armed hoodlums in the Independence Layout area of Enugu.
The operatives immediately launched a hot pursuit which led to Hillview Road, Independence Layout, where the suspects abandoned the vehicle and firearms before fleeing into the area.
The three victims were subsequently rescued unharmed and taken to safety with the assistance of Neighbourhood Watch members and other residents.
Police said they recovered one locally fabricated Beretta-like pistol loaded with five rounds of 9mm live ammunition, one locally made cut-to-size firearm and one live cartridge.
Other items recovered were a pair of hand gloves, a ski mask and a mobile phone.
The Command said investigation had been intensified and a manhunt launched for the fleeing suspects, with efforts ongoing to identify and apprehend them, recover additional exhibits and establish their involvement in the crime.
The Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, CP Mamman Bitrus Giwa, commended the police operatives, Neighbourhood Watch members and residents for their swift and coordinated response.
Giwa reiterated the Command’s commitment to intelligence-led and community-supported operations against kidnapping, armed robbery, car snatching and other violent crimes.
He also urged residents to remain vigilant and provide the police with timely and credible information that could assist in preventing and solving crimes.
The Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) has arrested a suspect for allegedly swindling 16 job seekers within Enugu metropolis.
The Commandant of NSCDC Enugu State Command, Dr Elijah Willie, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the arrest and investigation on Monday.
Willie said that the suspect collected a total of N6,139,000 from the ignorant and unsuspecting job seekers.
He said that the suspect, Mrs Serah Onyemerela, had been evading arrest by many security agencies until a resourceful officer of the command tracked her down and brought her to the Command.
The Commandant said that the suspect collected the sum of N306,000 from each of the 16 job seekers in the alleged job racketeering or job scam,which totalled N6,139,000.
“On August 12 and 18, 2026, Mrs Love Nnenna Onyema and Mrs Chidimma Ubah, the complainants, reported that Mrs Serah Uchechukwu Onyemerela, the suspect, defrauded them of N770,000 and N424,500 respectively.
“This amount to a total of N1,194,500 from both. However, the ones collected among the remaining people that made up the 16 job seekers at N306,000 each totalled N6,139,000.
“The suspect allegedly promised to assist the complainants in securing employment at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH).
“However, there is evidence indicating a lack of genuine intent, as there are no current job vacancies available, and the suspect has failed to refund the amounts as promised,” he said.
Willie said that on Aug. 17, 2026, the suspect was summoned, tracked and subsequently detained due to her inability to fulfil the conditions of an administrative bail application facilitated by the NSCDC Enugu State Command.
“The suspect has since confessed to the charges of job fraud and obtaining money under false pretences.
“The funds were transferred to a personnel account linked to Mrs Onyemerela Serah Uchechukwu,” he said.
The Commandant also warned job seekers and people seeking for help in any form to ensure no one places them in a condition to pay first before rendering a help.
Willie called on Nigerians, enlightened or not, to see the red flag that any help being offered even in prayer houses and money payment comes before the job or help is “total fraud”.
He said, “Our people should get wise like people in advance world and stop falling prey to swindlers and wicked people who are bent on taking the little they have from them.
“However, the NSCDC has a mandate to take away these unscrupulous elements out of the society for Nigerians to experience peace as well as the trust and bond in the society continue.”
The suspect would be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) soon as the NSCDC conclude its preliminary investigations on the matter.
A police inspector has been killed and another officer seriously injured after gunmen allegedly ambushed a joint security team in Jigawa State.
The incident occurred on Saturday, August 22, 2026, after security personnel responded to reports of farmland destruction in Gwaram Local Government Area.
According to a security report obtained by Zagazola Makama, the attack took place at about 3pm in a forested area.
The joint team comprised personnel from Gwaram and Fagam police divisions, the 35 Police Mobile Force and local security outfits. Members of the Vigilance and Community Response Unit (VCRU) and Operation Salama also participated in the operation.
The report said the team had been patrolling the area following recurring complaints involving suspected herders and farmland destruction.
The personnel reportedly came under attack after entering the area, with the assailants said to have used arrows.
Inspector Bukar Wakili, attached to Gwaram Division, was reportedly struck in the face and sustained serious injuries.
Another officer, Inspector Mohammed Shafiu of the VCRU in Dutse, was also injured during the incident.
Both officers were taken to a hospital, where Shafiu was confirmed dead, according to the report.
Bukar was later referred to the Malam Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital for further medical treatment.
The identities and affiliation of the attackers have not been independently confirmed, and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Additional tactical teams were subsequently deployed to reinforce the security personnel and support efforts to identify those responsible.
Police have opened an investigation into the incident and maintained a security presence in the affected area.
The attack comes amid recurring disputes involving farmers and herders in parts of northern Nigeria, where disagreements over farmland and grazing routes can sometimes escalate into violence.
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