ICPC Calls It a ‘Fake Agency’; Nwabueze Produces OSGF Appointment Letter in Explosive Made-in-Nigeria Dispute

By Our Reporter

What happens when an organisation accused by Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency of being a “fake” government office produces a purported appointment letter bearing the letterhead of the very government office it claims to operate under?

That is now at the centre of a widening controversy in Abuja.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it uncovered the National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office operating from premises of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) without presidential authorisation.

The commission says President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has consequently ordered the immediate arrest of the office’s promoter, George Buchi Nwabueze, and the suspension of three Permanent Secretaries: M.S. Danjuma, Nadungu Gagare and Richard P. Pheelangwah.

But Nwabueze is fighting back. He insists the organisation is not a fake agency but a project office under the OSGF and has released documents which he says demonstrate that the initiative has had government links dating back to 2010 and that his appointment was formally approved by the OSGF in 2025.

The documents have not, however, independently settled the question of whether the project had the legal and presidential authorisation required to operate as a Federal Government entity.

The ICPC allegation

ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, SAN, disclosed the development on Friday after briefing President Tinubu at the State House.

According to the commission, investigators uncovered the National Brands Development and Made-in-Nigeria Special Project Office during a broader investigation into the alleged fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and weaknesses in government administrative controls.

Aliyu said the organisation had been allocated office space within the OSGF premises “contrary to extant laws and without authorisation of the President.”

He further alleged that Nwabueze operated under several variations of his name, including George Nathan, George Nathan Nwabueze, Honourable George Buchi Nwabueze, Prince George Buchi Nwabueze and George Nwabueze.

The ICPC said its investigation also raised concerns about the involvement of officials within the OSGF.

Following his briefing, Aliyu said Tinubu directed the immediate arrest of Nwabueze and the suspension of the three Permanent Secretaries.

Nwabueze: “We don’t know where fake agency comes from”

Nwabueze has rejected the ICPC’s characterisation of the organisation. Responding to enquiries and posting documents on LinkedIn, he said:

“Made in Nigeria Special Project Office is a project office in the OSGF. We don’t know where fake agency comes from.”

He also questioned how an initiative he says had been associated with the SGF’s office since 2010 could only now be discovered.

“A programme that has been in the SGF’s office since 16 July 2010 was just discovered yesterday (Friday). After 16 years; Nigeria is a funny country.”

The 2010 date is central to Nwabueze’s defence, but it is important to distinguish his claim from an independently established fact. A document he released, dated July 19, 2010, purportedly shows correspondence from the SGF’s office acknowledging a proposal for a “Made in Naija” project and directing its proponents to the Nigerian High Commission in Ireland for possible consideration. The authenticity and precise significance of the document have not been independently established.

The 2025 appointment letter

Nwabueze has also released a more recent document that could prove significant if independently authenticated.

The document is dated October 3, 2025, carries reference number OSGF/MIN/59310/11/205, and is purportedly signed by Nadungu Gagare, then Permanent Secretary in the Political and Economic Affairs Office.

It states that Nwabueze was approved for appointment as National Coordinator/Executive Director of the Made in Nigeria Project Office under the OSGF.

According to reports citing the document, the appointment was for five years beginning in July 2025 and was renewable subject to approval. The document also assigned Nwabueze responsibilities including coordinating regional and state structures, developing programmes and organising exhibitions, trade fairs and economic summits promoting Nigerian products and services.

Most significantly, the document reportedly identified Room B53, Ground Floor, within the OSGF complex as the temporary location of the project office.

If the document is authentic and the authority cited in it is confirmed, it could raise difficult questions about the ICPC’s assertion that the office was simply an unauthorised operation inside government premises.

But an appointment letter from an official does not, by itself, establish that the project possessed every statutory, administrative or presidential approval required to function as a Federal Government agency. That distinction is crucial.

Another document raises an even bigger question

Nwabueze has also published a document dated April 17, 2025, described as a proposal seeking “Special Project” status for the Made-in-Nigeria initiative.

The document reportedly argues that the initiative had been promoting Nigerian products and services through exhibitions, economic forums and other activities.

But its existence may cut both ways.

If the project was already fully constituted as a government entity, why was it seeking formal Special Project status in 2025?

Conversely, if the OSGF was actively processing or supporting the initiative, what exactly was the administrative status of the office while that process was underway?

Those questions remain unanswered.

The nationwide network

The controversy is also larger than one office in Abuja.

Reports based on information attributed to the organisation’s website indicate that it had established a structure involving national, zonal and state coordinators. One report identified coordinators in states including Katsina, Kaduna, Delta, Kebbi, Osun, Anambra, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue, Ondo, Ogun, Sokoto, Abia, Zamfara, Niger, Kano, Taraba, Oyo, Bauchi and Kogi.

The organisation’s online presence also presented it as operating under the OSGF.

That raises another central question for investigators: how could an allegedly unauthorised organisation establish a nationwide network, occupy space inside the OSGF complex and communicate with state authorities without being detected earlier?

State governments caught in the middle

The controversy has also spilled into the states.

Reports indicate that the project communicated with state governments and sought to establish local structures. In one case, the Anambra State Government reportedly said it had been misled after its name appeared in connection with the organisation.

Separately, reports have cited Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule as saying the state had domesticated the Made-in-Nigeria initiative and included it in its 2026 budget.

These developments underscore the practical consequences of the dispute.

If the organisation was unauthorised, how did government institutions and state authorities come to interact with it?

If it was authorised, where is the definitive instrument establishing that authority?

OSGF yet to provide a definitive public explanation

As of the latest reports available on Sunday, the OSGF had not publicly resolved the central contradiction.

The office’s spokesman, Christopher Ugwuegbulam, reportedly requested formal written enquiries before providing a response. The ICPC’s spokesman, John Odey, was also reported to have been unreachable for further comment.

A source within the OSGF reportedly told Sunday PUNCH that the office had been shut for months and was not operating as an agency.

“It was not operating as an agency but I know was under investigation… The office was shut months ago.”

Meanwhile, police sources reportedly said they had not yet been formally briefed about the arrest directive and that a manhunt would depend on an official communication.

The real issue: agency, project or unauthorised office?

At the heart of the controversy is a distinction that should not be lost in the political drama.

The ICPC is describing the outfit as a fake agency/office that operated without presidential authorisation.

Nwabueze says it was never presented as a statutory agency but as a project office under the OSGF.

Those are not necessarily identical claims.

The existence of correspondence with government officials, an appointment letter or an office allocation would not automatically establish that the organisation had the full legal authority of a federal agency. Equally, the mere absence of a clearly established statutory agency status would not necessarily prove that every activity associated with the project was fraudulent.

The unanswered question is therefore not simply whether the project existed.

It is what legal and administrative authority it possessed, who authorised it, and how that authority was exercised inside the OSGF.

What happens next?

President Tinubu’s arrest directive and the suspension of three Permanent Secretaries have transformed what began as an administrative controversy into a major government investigation.

The investigation will now have to establish several facts:

Who created or authorised the Made-in-Nigeria Project Office?

What instrument gave it authority to operate from the OSGF?

Was presidential approval required, and if so, was it obtained?

Who authorised the appointment of Nwabueze?

Why was the project allowed to establish structures across states?

And, perhaps most importantly, how did the organisation operate for years without the alleged irregularities being detected?

For now, the evidence points to a genuine institutional dispute, but not yet to a settled conclusion.

The ICPC has made serious allegations. Nwabueze has produced documents challenging them. Some of those documents appear significant, but their authenticity and legal effect still require independent verification.

Until the OSGF and investigators provide definitive answers, the most accurate description is not simply “fake agency” or “legitimate government project.”

It is a government-authorisation controversy now under formal investigation.

#Nigeria #ICPC #Tinubu #AsoRock #MadeInNigeria #GeorgeNwabueze #OSGF #NigerianPolitics #AntiCorruption #GovernmentAccountability #BreakingNews #NigeriaNews