Former vice president and 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has demanded the suspension of President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, for illegally receiving N54 billion from Nigeria’s oil regulatory commission after citing a fake law.

Mr Atiku said he was “baffled” by such level of large scale corruption, advising that it should not be left unprobed.

Mr Abubakar in a critique of Mr Tinubu’s administration on Tuesday referenced a report by Peoples Gazette detailing how Mr Gbajabiamila collected tens of billions of naira from the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission under a fictitious law and urged the president not to turn a blind eye to the scandal.

He said Mr Tinubu cannot be a hard-liner prosecuting members of the opposition over alleged corruption but turn a blind eye when his close allies become the subject of such scandals.

“You can’t preach the rule of law when your own officials are awarded with the trophy of untouchability,” said the 2027 ADC presidential candidate.

He urged Mr Tinubu to toe the path of his predecessor, the late Muhammadu Buhari, who suspended the then secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir Lawal, pending the outcome of a corruption probe. 

He added, “Gbajabiamila must be held accountable like every other public official and independently investigated to give him full opportunity to defend himself against the brazen act of corruption as detailed in the Gazette report.” 

Mr Abubakar said in a statement by his media office on Tuesday, “Former President Buhari suspended his SGF Babachir Lawal from office in order to allow for unfettered investigation against him and Gbajabiamila shouldn’t be treated differently.”

Mr Abubakar said he had little to no expectation of justice from Mr Tinubu’s administration given his “apathetic and lackadaisical attitude” to the deluge of corruption scandals against Mr Gbajabiamila.

He noted, “It’s apparent that the government is just going through the motions to fool Nigerians.”

The former VP reminded Mr Tinubu that Mr Gbajabiamila was not a man of sterling character even outside Nigeria where his reputation was tainted by decades-long allegation of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from his American client before fleeing to Nigeria.

Mr Gbajabiamila’s client reported him to the Georgia State Bar which terminated his law licence in 2020 having had enough of his ethical lapses.

Mr Abubakar further said Mr Tinubu “cannot pretend to be serving the people” while his appointees continue to amass wealth at the expense of ordinary Nigerians left to languish in hunger and preventable diseases.