A new memo circulating within the presidency has justified Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to the Bola Tinubu administration, in having the president’s backing to set aside the controversial N54 billion from oil royalties generated by the National Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission.

The memo defended Mr Gbajabiamila as a man under authority, carrying out his duty as a conveyor of the president’s instruction to demand a percentage of NUPRC’s collection revenue.

The document noted that the money was not even Mr Gbajabiamila’s idea, as it was originally conceived by Zach Adedeji, technical adviser on revenue at the time, who was later promoted to chair the Federal Inland Revenue Service, now known as the Nigeria Revenue Service.

The N54 billion fund was the brainchild of Mr Adedeji, who was at the time desperate and determined to generate money for Mr Tinubu’s then-fledgling government.

Mr Adedeji did not immediately return a request seeking comment on whether he played a role in drafting the policy at the time.

Peoples Gazette, in an exclusive report on Monday, reported that Mr Gbajabiamila cited a fictitious law to claim N54 billion from the NUPRC, weeks after Mr Tinubu assumed office. In a letter sent to the oil commission on July 4,2023, the chief of staff directed that the four per cent cost of collection be divided into two parts, 2.5 per cent for NUPRC’s operations and routine capital expenditure and the remaining 1.5 per cent for the upgrading of the oil and gas metering and transparency systems.

The opaque language of “transparency systems”, which gulped N54 billion from the nation’s treasury, heightened suspicions of fraud and triggered widespread accusations of financial misconduct.

But the memo defended the chief of staff, asserting that Mr Gbajabiamila was acting under Mr Tinubu’s orders.

Still, sources at the presidency doubled down, maintaining their position that Mr Gbajabiamila was the one who facilitated the memo to corner tens of billions of naira for several contracts awarded as part of the ringfencing scheme.

The wording of the memo was not entirely new as it essentially repeats the presidency’s initial statement to The Gazette, which said Mr Tinubu, as commander-in-chief, was responsible for the decision to lay claim to the N54 billion.

The memo placed the budget office and that of the accountant-general in charge of implementing revenue collection, stressing that Mr Gbajabiamila was not directly involved in allocating contracts to be paid from the oil commission’s fund.

“The NUPRC remains the implementing entity for projects to upgrade oil and gas metering and transparency systems,” stated the memo. “As such, the commission retains the entirety of the cost of collection except that a percentage of what it collects is now allocated for the specific purpose of upgrading crude oil and gas metering and transparency systems in the country.”

The undated memo was circulated after The Gazette’s report, and the masthead confirmed that principal staff, including the permanent secretary of the State House and a director of the State Security Service, each received a copy.

Citing the Petroleum Industry Act 2021, the document further clarified that Mr Tinubu, in his capacity as petroleum minister, reserves the right to lay claim to NUPRC funds as he sees fit, shutting down arguments over the role of the National Assembly conferred with the authority of NUPRC’s revenue accrual and capital expenditure appropriation by PIA 2023 (24) (1).

It was not immediately clear what disciplinary action, if any, the President is considering over Mr Gbajabiamila’s role in the messy financial arrangement.

Mr Tinubu’s spokesperson did not immediately return a comment on the matter.

The report triggered calls for Mr Gbajabiamila’s resignation or, at the very least, a suspension until investigations are launched and concluded. Mr Tinubu’s main challenger, Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday asked the president to suspend his right-hand man over the matter.

Civil society groups have similarly threatened legal action over the matter, arguing that the matter should not be swept under the carpet.

The controversial N54 billion surfaced amid a corruption scandal that has ensnared Mr Gbajabiamila, after the director-general of the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, claimed the chief of staff received a N400 million bribe to secure his directorial appointment.

Mr Gbajabiamila claimed that Mr Tinubu was unaware of the Council’s existence, but Mr Adeyemi argued that his refusal to give Mr Gbajabiamila an additional 48 per cent of a N27.7 billion grant angered the chief of staff, leading to the denial of the council’s existence and his involvement.

Mr Adeyemi was arrested earlier this week after failing to appear before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court to make his case.