Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) has charged President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff (CoS), Femi Gbajabiamila, to step aside and give room for investigation into the allegation of fraud involving his office and the self-acclaimed Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), Adeniyi Adeyemi.

On June 11, 2026 Gbajabiamila denied knowledge of Adeyemi when he presented himself as the Director General of PFIPC which he claimed was non-existent.

Gbajabiamila said he petitioned security agencies in October 2025 after forged appointment letters surfaced and Adeyemi was later charged before the Federal High Court for forgery, impersonation and obtaining by false pretence.

In his reaction, Adeyemi dismissed all the allegations against him, saying he was ready to clear his name in court.

Adeyemi called for an independent panel from Tinubu because those behind the allegations were trying to silence him, stressing that Gbajabiamila issued him an appointment letter.

However, Falana said the Presidency has explanations to make to Nigerians on Adeyemi’s travail.

Speaking on Eagle 102.5 FM, Falana insisted that the presidency has exposed Nigeria to “unprecedented ridicule.

He said: “How did an agency that is not created by law find its way into the Appropriation Act of Nigeria? How did that body get an office in the Federal Secretariat? How did that body successfully open accounts in the Central Bank of Nigeria?

“How did the Head of Service post about 300 staff to that office? The government will have to explain to Nigerians how a sum of N24 billion was budgeted for an unknown agency, as well as how that agency had accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“If this is a conman that can con the Presidency into issuing a letter of appointment, con the Central Bank into opening accounts, con the National Assembly into inserting the agency into the budget, I think the government is kidding.”

Falana said the National Assembly must explain how an “agency unknown to law” was inserted into the budget. Citing Section 81 of the Constitution, he noted that appropriation bills originate from the Executive.

“You cannot have an agency that is not created by law in the budget of a country.

“The government has a duty to ask Mr. Gbajabiamila to step aside to allow for a full investigation in the interest of the country and even in his own interest.”

The United Nations World Food Programme has warned that conflict in northern Nigeria, together with shrinking humanitarian assistance, is driving a food crisis to levels not seen in nearly a decade.

It said recent data showed that more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected states are experiencing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of hunger.

“Across all of northern Nigeria we have been seeing an increase and spread in insurgent attacks and violence,” said Serigne Loum, WFP’s Deputy Country Director in Nigeria.

“Families are being forced from their home and it’s getting harder for WFP to access people who urgently need food assistance,” he said.

Nigeria has been battling a jihadist insurgency centred in the north-east since 2009, with a resurgence in violence since 2025.

Jihadists have also been expanding into the north-west, which is already facing a separate, overlapping crisis from armed “bandit” gangs.

The WFP said the expanding conflict is forcing more people from farmland, driving displacement, and restricting humanitarian access.

Aid cuts under US President Donald Trump and other western countries have hit some of Nigeria’s poorest households in recent years.

Habiba, a displaced mother with a young baby in Borno States, said sometimes they do not get food “for two nights” while occasionally they get only one meal.

“And when children keep going hungry, it’s hard to be with them awake with nothing. That’s how I gave birth to this baby, in this situation of total lack,” she said.

The WFP said that, at the same time, the number of locations inaccessible to its frontline staff has doubled while cargo movements along major routes are increasingly disrupted by attacks and illegal checkpoints.

It said the suspension of food assistance is driving people towards desperate coping strategies, including cases of individuals joining armed groups in search of food or income.

In some camps, the lack of food aid due to funding shortfalls has triggered an alarming escalation in exploitation and gender-based harm that is particularly impacting women and children.

The WFP said it needs $89 million over the next six months to continue food and nutrition assistance across northern Nigeria before hunger deepens further.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, says the borrowing policy of the Federal government is not immoral, stating that debt should be viewed as a strategic financial tool for economic growth rather than a moral failing.

Oyedele stated this on Tuesday at the 2026 Annual Conference of the Capital Market Academics of Nigeria (CMAN), advocating the establishment of a dedicated Commercial Dispute Resolution Tribunal to fast-track the resolution of business disputes and improve Nigeria’s investment climate.

He argued that public criticism of government borrowing often ignores the more critical issue of how borrowed funds are utilised.

The minister added that the key consideration is not the size of a country’s debt but whether borrowed funds are invested in productive ventures capable of generating returns that exceed the cost of borrowing.

“The Federal government’s borrowing is not immoral. In much of our public discourse, debt is spoken of as a moral failing rather than a financial instrument.

“The relevant question is never simply how much debt. It is always debt for what, at what cost, against what return, and repaid on what terms,” he said.

According to him, governments, businesses and individuals should embrace responsible borrowing when it is used to finance productive investments, warning that refusing to borrow under such circumstances amounts to a missed economic opportunity.