The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has described the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration as a “fake government”, arguing that although Tinubu was duly elected president, the government he subsequently established had failed to operate within the framework of the Nigerian Constitution.
Adebayo made the claim on Wednesday during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese Ijebu, while responding to questions on the proliferation of government agencies, commissions, committees and institutions with what he described as overlapping or unclear mandates.
Adebayo’s comments came against the backdrop of a widening investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) into the operation of fictitious government agencies within the federal public service.
The commission, after a 30-day investigation ordered by President Bola Tinubu, said it had uncovered two additional purportedly fictitious agencies allegedly created by Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-styled Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
They were identified as the FCT Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership. ICPC said forged legislative instruments were allegedly used to create the entities and facilitate the opening and operation of bank accounts in their names.
The PFIPC itself, according to the ICPC, was never established by any law, Executive Order or other valid government instrument, while documents presented by Adeyemi, including an appointment letter and gazette, were found to have been forged.
The commission recommended Adeyemi’s prosecution for alleged forgery, impersonation and related offences, and called for administrative sanctions against public officers whose acts, omissions or negligence may have facilitated the operation of the purported agency. ICPC said the investigation was still ongoing to identify other persons who may have participated in or facilitated the alleged scheme.
The controversy has since widened beyond the PFIPC case. On August 21, 2026, ICPC said it had uncovered another purportedly fictitious government office, the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office, operating within the premises of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Following the fresh findings, President Tinubu ordered the arrest of the alleged head of the office, Nwabueze Buchi George, and the suspension of three permanent secretaries.
According to Adebayo, the president was constitutionally empowered to form a government after his election, but argued that the administration must operate according to the Constitution and the principles governing the use of public power.
“The whole Tinubu administration itself is a fake government. It wasn’t the government that was elected. It was Bola Ahmed Tinubu that was elected but instead of setting up a proper government in line with the constitution, he set up a fake government. So he himself is a duly elected president, but he decided to set up a fake government because his government doesn’t follow the law.”
Adebayo further argued that the president should not focus only on identifying isolated agencies as fake or unnecessary.
“So President Tinubu should not waste his time trying to isolate one or two, three fake agencies. The whole government itself is fake,” he said.
Adebayo said the responsibility for the alleged proliferation of questionable or unauthorised agencies should not be placed on the agencies themselves, arguing that they could only operate within the framework permitted by the executive.
He maintained that the president must therefore bear responsibility for what he described as the use of illegitimate structures to run government. He said: “Let us be careful when we’re discussing fake agency to know that the agency didn’t create themselves. It is the president who used fakery to run government.”
Adebayo said the formation of government should also be guided by Chapter 2 of the Constitution, particularly its provisions concerning the social and economic objectives of the state.
“And if you’re going to set up a government, you set up a government in line with chapter two of the constitution,” he stated.
He added that ministers, contracts and government agencies should therefore be established and operated in accordance with constitutional objectives and legally established procedures.
“If I’m going to make you a minister, you are going to implement what is in chapter two. If I’m going to award contracts, I award in line with chapter two,” he said.
Adebayo accused the administration of surrounding the president with people whose authority and activities, in his view, did not adequately reflect constitutional governance.
He argued that the problem was worsened by what he described as poor budget implementation and a lack of accountability in the handling of government resources.
“The president is now surrounded by fake people, right from the villa to the ministries to the agencies,” he said.
According to him, the constitutional and democratic mandate given to a president to form a government was being undermined when public money was spent outside the normal appropriation and accountability processes
“He is wasting the mandate given to him to form a government by just having anybody who knows him goes around to do what they like,” Adebayo said.
The SDP presidential candidate maintained that Tinubu still had the constitutional authority to dissolve the existing structure and establish a government that, according to him, would conform more closely to the Constitution.
“Tinubu has the right to dissolve it now because the democratic mandate, constitutional mandate given to him to form government is still there. So he can still go now, dissolve what he has now and start afresh,” he said.
The SDP candidate said an administration led by him would not tolerate what he described as fake institutions, unaccountable agencies or structures operating outside the framework of established laws. He disclosed that Professor Usman Bugaje would serve as his vice-presidential candidate and said the structure of his administration would reflect his interpretation of constitutional government.
Adebayo said the vice-president would automatically chair the Economic Council in accordance with the Constitution, rather than having the finance minister occupy a coordinating role that he considers constitutionally inappropriate.
“He’s automatically going to be chairman of the economic council as is the constitution. I will not say minister of finance is coordinating minister. That’s against the constitution,” he said.
He also promised to subject government agencies to the laws establishing them and measure their activities against the objectives contained in Chapter Two of the Constitution.
“ I’m going to take all the agencies and tie them to the act of national assembly and I will juxtapose them with the metrics of chapter two of the constitution,” he said.
The SDP candidate further accused the Tinubu administration of concentrating government contracts among a small number of companies. He alleged that 74 per cent of contracts awarded by the administration had gone to six companies.
“Seventy-four percent of all the contracts awarded by President Tinubu are awarded to only six companies,” he said.
He went further to allege that four of those companies were associated with the president.
“And four of the companies are companies associated with him. Is that not a fake document? Is that not against the law?” Adebayo asked.
Adebayo accused Tinubu of failing to use the mandate he received from Nigerians to establish a government that, in his words, citizens could identify with and hold accountable.
“He collected the mandate, and he ran away with it. He doesn’t want to use it to serve the people of Nigeria by giving them a government they can recognize,” he said.
The SDP candidate alleged that individuals close to the president could exploit proximity to government to establish private interests under the appearance of official agencies.
He alleged that some of such organisations could then obtain government facilities and privileges despite unclear constitutional or statutory foundations.
“He’s putting a bunch of buccaneers and tax collectors. So everybody who is close to the president will use his name to go and set himself up his own business somewhere and call it one agency.”
“And then they’ll go to the secretary of government and collect office space and siren from the police. And they’re going all over the place. No head, no tail,” he said.
Adebayo said an SDP administration would seek to completely separate the police from political activities, arguing that police personnel should be focused on law enforcement and protecting citizens rather than serving political office holders.
He said he would withdraw police officers from the presidential villa and government houses as part of the policy, adding that their interaction with politicians should be limited to legitimate law-enforcement duties.
According to him: “I will discharge police from politics. No policeman should go near a politician, except he wants
to go and arrest the politician or take evidence from him. So, even from the villa, from all the government houses, I will withdraw all the police.”
