Serial impersonator Kunle Onabekun defrauded President Bola Tinubu, FCT minister Nyesom Wike, and other high-ranking individuals with a publicised summit in the name of the United Kingdom-based Chartered Institute of Building despite his expulsion by the organisation earlier this year for using its name to scam unsuspecting Nigerians.

Sources told Peoples Gazette that Mr Onabekun was initially suspended in July 2024 after exploiting the name of the global association of professional builders to stage an elaborate exhibition dubbed ‘CIOB Nigeria Meet 2023’ without authorisation while charging builders thousands of dollars for awards under the guise that his events were sanctioned by the original body.

To entice his victims, who are mostly local builders and engineers, sources said Mr Onabekun lied that the recipients of honours would earn them global recognition, resulting in a surge of applicants as many sought international reputation and access to so-called industry experts and insiders.

This resulted in an investigation after the CIOB became aware of the scheme. After nearly a year of investigation by the CIOB, Mr Onabekun was finally expelled from the organisation in May 2025.

However, Mr Onabekun’s ouster has not prevented him from using CIOB’s name to further his scheme, as he proceeded to establish his own unsanctioned Nigerian affiliate called ‘CIOB Nigeria Hub’ after his expulsion, sources noted, adding that he has since continued to utilise his phantom relationship with CIOB to deceive the public and political figures, including Mr Tinubu.

Mr Onabekun scheduled one of such events, a three-day ‘Economic Impact of The Built Environment’ summit in the name of CIOB in Abuja earlier this month, which he was charging each participant N75,000 as attendance fee, while attaching the name of Mr Tinubu and several members of his cabinet to the event to apparently gain credibility.

Mr Onabekun listed Mr Tinubu as one of the attendees and awardees in the official flier of the summit. He also named multiple cabinet members of the president, including interior minister Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, works minister David Umahi, the environment minister, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, and Mr Wike as attendees of the event.

When contacted by The Gazette for a response regarding the allegations, Mr Onabekun stated that he could not comment on the situation as “the matter is in court”.

A spokesman for Mr Onabekun later confirmed to The Gazette that the November summit did not take place.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for Mr Wike, Lere Olayinka, told The Gazette that he was aware of the minister’s name being on the summit’s flyer. He, however, said the “minister did not attend” the event.

Bayo Onanuga, a spokesperson for the president, did not immediately respond to requests for comments on the development.