Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has been enmeshed in a corruption scandal.
Gbajabiamila was allegedly fingered as one of the beneficiaries of the largesse of corruption uncovered under the Chief Executive Officer of the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Ahmed Kuru, and the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
A source in the presidency told Sahara Reporters that the report of the CBN Special Investigator, Jim Obazee, exposed how Gbajabiamila allegedly benefitted from Kuru’s “largesse of Ikoyi properties from his days as Speaker of the House of Representatives”.
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The source claimed that Gbajabiamila, in return, had ensured Kuru remained as AMCON’s Chief Executive after about nine years.
“President Bola Tinubu is under pressure from some political associates, whom Kuru has soiled their white robes, including the Hon Femi Gbajabiamila (President’s Chief of Staff), who has benefitted from Ahmed Kuru’s largesse of Ikoyi properties from his days as Speaker of the House of Representatives,” the source said.
The source noted that “Gbajabiamila had persistently blocked Kuru’s removal as AMCON’s Chief Executive after about nine years in office, over two terms of a democratically elected President.”
Recall that the Special Investigator’s report on the probe of Emefiele uncovered alarming sums of public funds which went into the fraudulent acquisition of Polaris, Keystone and Union banks under Emefiele and AMCON under Kuru’s leadership.
Following the report, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) dissolved the board and management of Titan Trust Bank, Union Bank, Polaris Bank and Keystone Bank.
This followed a report submitted to President Bola Tinubu by the Special Investigator on the Central Bank of Nigeria and Related Entities, Jim Obazee.
It was reported that the decision to dissolve the boards was taken after a meeting between the CBN Governor, Yemi Cardoso, Obazee and the boards of the four banks, including Titan Trust Bank’s investors, who had earlier avoided meeting with the Special Investigator.
In December 2023 the office of the Special Investigator had insisted that the Chairman of Titan Trust Bank (TTB), Tunde Lemo, Cornelius Vink and Rahul Savara, must appear before it over the acquisition of the Union Bank of Nigeria.
Independent financial investigations revealed that Ahmed Kuru threw all others under the bus to save his neck by blackmailing all government officials who had benefitted from his generosity through the sharing of Ikoyi and Abuja properties.
A forensic observer noted that the special investigator’s report that did not indict Kuru raised concerns over whether it was deliberate as a result of a bargain.
