Former Minister of Aviation and ex-FRSC Corps Marshal, Osita Chidoka, made these remarks during an interview on Channels Television’s “Politics Today”
. He was discussing the scandal surrounding a self-acclaimed Director-General of the phantom “Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council” (PFIPC) Prince Adeniyi who had implicated President Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, in a bribery and fake appointment scandal.
Chidoka explicitly clarified that the Chief of Staff is a personal staff of the President and stated that the Chief of staff acts strictly as the “chief organiser of the president’s office” and has no constitutional or legal business interfering with the day-to-day administration or ministerial duties of the government.
He emphasized that the Chief of Staff lacks the authority to issue appointment letters, employ civil servants, or establish government agencies. Those powers according to him constitutionally lie with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) or the Head of the Civil Service
Chidoka noted that the fact that a “phantom agency” could gain access to the Presidential Villa, interact with government organs, and even have a line item in the national budget points to massive system failure and a severe breach in due process, rather than just an isolated extortion attempt.
