Ololade Adeyanju/
The Transformative Governance Forum (TGF) has defended the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, insisting that demands for his resignation over the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal are premature, constitutionally flawed and unsupported by due process.
In a statement issued on Saturday by its Strategic Communications Directorate, the Forum argued that while Nigerians have every right to demand accountability over the alleged creation of a fictitious federal agency, responsibility must be determined through lawful investigation and judicial process rather than public pressure.
The group was reacting to growing calls by opposition figures and civil society groups for Gbajabiamila to step aside following revelations that a man, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, allegedly forged an appointment letter bearing the Chief of Staff’s name to operate a phantom government agency.
According to the Forum, the suspect allegedly used the forged document to open an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria and 34 commercial bank accounts, host foreign diplomats, obtain recruitment waivers and secure about ₦1.3 billion for the fictitious agency in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
The suspect is currently facing an eight-count charge before the Federal High Court bordering on forgery, impersonation and obtaining by false pretence.
TGF acknowledged that prominent voices, including Atiku Abubakar, Femi Falana, the Nigeria Democratic Congress and the African Democratic Congress, had demanded an independent probe, with some calling for the Chief of Staff’s resignation.
However, it maintained that “a loud consensus is not the same thing as a correct one,” stressing that democratic societies must distinguish between public outrage and legal responsibility.
According to the Forum, available facts show that Gbajabiamila himself petitioned the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force in October 2025 after the alleged forgery was uncovered, making him the complainant rather than an accused person.
The organisation argued that removing a public official solely on allegations made by a fraud suspect before any judicial finding would undermine constitutional safeguards, including the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair hearing.
It further contended that the exposure of the alleged fraud demonstrated that Nigeria’s institutions were functioning rather than collapsing, noting that officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission and the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs detected irregularities and escalated them to relevant authorities, leading to investigations.
Rather than focusing exclusively on the Chief of Staff, TGF urged investigators to determine how the fictitious council allegedly secured a budget allocation, recruitment waivers and multiple bank accounts.
The Forum also called on the National Assembly of Nigeria to review its appropriation processes, arguing that any phantom agency included in the national budget could only have passed through both executive and legislative scrutiny.
It recommended sweeping reforms, including the creation of a central digital registry for all federal agencies, stronger verification systems for official correspondence, stricter bank due diligence procedures and improved digital authentication mechanisms similar to those used in the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Estonia.
Describing the PFIPC affair as “a stress test of Nigeria’s institutions,” TGF said the episode should drive systemic reforms rather than political scapegoating.
“The judiciary should establish the legal facts. The National Assembly should examine its own procedures. The executive should reinforce its verification systems. And the public should await the evidence before reaching a verdict,” the Forum stated.
It added that due process remains essential for both the Chief of Staff and the accused, insisting that justice must be driven by evidence presented before the courts rather than by public sentiment.
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