BY REV FR GERALD NWAFOR
It sounded comic, but it is simple reality. If you do not checkmate evil, it will grow and consume everyone. Mr. Peter Obi was laughing so hard that he could not complete the interview with Chude on a podcast. Let us try to digest what he said in the podcast that gets the agents of the state speaking loudly. Peter Obi stated that you do not enforce failure. He opined that because when the issue of ghost workers was reported all over the country, we did nothing. Today, we have the issue of fake agencies.
Obi went further to say that if we do not stand up to this new trend of fake agency, we will transform into having fake ministries, fake governors, and a fake president. The studio cracked up, and everyone in the studio was laughing, even the host, who is a very well-known professional in the area of journalism, could not control his candor. Is it not a clear sign that the country has become a big joke when something as serious as a fake agency was discovered in the budget of Nigeria? For me, I do not believe that that agency is fake in any way at all. My take is that they have money problems with some people in the government on how to share their loot, and you know what happens among thieves (there is no honor among thieves). Who will have the lion’s share? And they could not agree, then the heavens or hell let loose.
The chief of staff was a finger in the fake agency, so-called. If it is a fake agency, how did it get a CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) account? If it is a fake agency, how did it get into the Nigerian budget and get billions of Naira allocated to it? If it is a fake agency, how did it get an office in the federal government building? If it is a fake agency, how does it get staff that we are being paid by the government? Who posted the staff in the office of the fake agency? How did the Senate of Nigeria sit down to pass the agency in the appropriation bill? Meanwhile, the name of the agency is the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC). All these stories that the letters that formed the council were forged, and the letters that set up the CBN account were forged, are gibberish. The federal government of a nation is not a primary school job where a forged letter will open an office in the presidential building. Who is listening to this fairytale, please?
The problem with forgery in the APC government was primarily with the party itself. I will not be surprised when the day arrives when it comes to light that the paper used to form the APC was forged. The former president, Buhari, has an issue with his WAEC certificate because it was alleged to be forged. The current president has a problem with his certificate(s), from school, to birth, to town, and to mandate. If the head of the fish is rotten, the whole body has a problem.
Nobody can prove to me that this PFIPC is so smooth that it was not discovered. If it is true that PFIPC is a fake agency within the system, I can tell you that there are many more fake agencies within the system of the Nigerian government. It is as simple as the rat theory here in Nigeria. The day you see one rat in your house, my brother, there are many more in your rooms, kitchens, and living rooms.
Peter Obi was on the hypothetical level when he said that we may start having fake ministers, governors, and presidents. I can see over ten fake agencies within the system; the only reason they have not blown up is that they still share their booty amicably. The day one person within the agency gets greedy, there will be another fake agency in the public domain. Obi went further to talk about how we used to help someone in the school system when he had failed woefully multiple times. A group of friends would gather and tell him that he cannot do this thing, but in the case of the president of Nigeria, the people around him kept pushing him into more woes and failures. I do not see the government of Tinubu accepting defeat but bringing all the machinery of state to keep itself in power.
2027 is six months away; we are watching to see the magic they wish to perform before the election. The joke about the first lady telling the people whose business has been decimated by the policies of the government to divert into selling Akara and Kulikuli is appalling. Is it not an insult to tell you to start a business with 2000 Naira when you have 500,000 Naira worth of business before this government came into power? What could be more insulting than that?
Finally, the president has ordered a probe into the fake agency. He said that the police should not be in charge of the probe. He ordered ICPC to take over the investigation from the police and give him a report in 2 weeks. May we remind the public that this case did not start this year. It started in October 2025. Since October 2025, the ICPC, the Police, and DSS have not been able to crack the code and tell us what happened. Is it in 2 weeks that ICPC will be able to tell us what went wrong and what went right?
I am not a pessimist, but I believe that this will end the way many fake result and forgery cases in Nigeria ended. The former minister of science and technology from Enugu State was fired because he had a fake certificate. We are still following the trial to see what will happen to him. INEC has said in its new electoral guidelines that you cannot disqualify a candidate because he forged his school certificate or document. So how can we fit into this present mess that the fake agency, according to the chief of staff, started with a forged letter? The government in the hallowed chamber (Senate) said forgery is no longer a problem in the scheme of things in Nigeria. If we can make any head or tail from this probe on the fake agency discovered by the chief of staff, it will not be in this administration. If we are to make a list of the things we would like the government to answer, we will ask who told the military to withdraw from the school before the kids were kidnapped. No answer for almost a year. So fake agency, fake ministries, fake governors, and fake president have come to stay; do not be too worried. Fakeness and the government are engaged, probably the wedding is loading.
