Prince Adeniyi Scandal: Letter To President Tinubu

Authored by Wale Bakare

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

Dear President Tinubu,

Kindly accept my greetings delivered with due respect.

I write to you over the the trending matter of the ‘Fake Agency’ that is presently capturing the attention of Nigerians, and indeed, the world.

I believe it must have given you too some concern because of its sheer ridiculousness.

While you ponder over it, Sir, please permit me to chip in a couple of thoughts.

The way forward over this matter is clear and does not require too much cogitation.

Whatever those with access to you might be telling you, this Prince Adeniyi scandal has seriously dented the image of your government and thoroughly embarrassed the country.

Whether the Agency is fake as your government claims or it is genuine as Adeniyi insists, Nigerians deserve to know the truth.

Right now, Adeniyi, despite the pointers to him as a career criminal and repeater fraudster is more credible in this matter in the eyes of Nigerians than those speaking for your government.

This should worry you.

You see, the challenge for people like me is not whether his claims of paying your Chief of Staff a fortune to secure this appointment are true or not.

Despite what we know goes on in Abuja when it comes to securing appointments and jobs (predating your government by the way), his claims remain mere allegations until he can provide evidence to back them up (I am not holding my breath waiting for that to happen).

There are however a plethora of anecdotes about shenanigans that go on in Abuja when it comes to securing political appointments.

As I said, it didn’t start with your government.

I dare say it wont end with it, no matter what you do.

What concerns me is the fact that government could come out and admit that a man was running a full service Agency from inside its Federal Secretariat without its knowledge or approval.

That this fake Agency could receive official communication from both Chambers of the National Assembly, open up to 34 bank accounts in commercial banks, and carry out events and functions in full glare of the public (and government) for almost 2 years without legitimacy is what bothers me.

I find it incredible that this ‘fake’ Agency had accounts with the country’s Central Bank.

Sir, do you see where I am going to?

This man had meetings with foreign investors on behalf of the Nigerian people.

He met with Ambassadors of other countries on our behalf.

He presented himself as representing you, Sir!

That, to me is just a step below treason.

That is what made the Press release by your Spokesperson so lame in my opinion.

Treating a matter that should agitate the entire apparatus of government as a major security breach as if it was a case of yahoo-yahoo calls to question whether we are seeing this as the matter of national importance that it is.

For God’s sake Sir, this fake Agency was captured in the National Budget signed by you.

That in itself should strike you as a personal insult.

Somebody, somewhere is taking the mickey out of you, Sir.

So Sir, as an unrepentant supporter of the courageous reforms that you have initiated since coming into office and one who desires to see you lead Nigeria through the teething pains of those reforms and back on the path of sustainable progress, I would like to offer some advice on how I believe you should handle this scandal.

Whether those around you admit it to you or not, it is a scandal and it has had quite deleterious consequences on the image of your government over the last couple of days.

The world is watching, Sir, and you have the chance to recover some dignity for us over this disgraceful episode.

Sir, this fellow should not be made the fall-guy over this and we allow things to return to normal.

You can and should turn this obvious disaster into a positive.

Your Chief of Staff needs to go.

It would not be an admission of guilt of wrongdoing on his part, regardless of the weighty allegations against him.

His suspension, at the very least, would pave the way for the unbiased and thorough investigation that should follow.

We know this will not be possible with him still occupying one of the most powerful offices in the land.

The mere fact that a ‘Fake agency’ could be operating illegally and so blatantly for so long under his watch is enough reason to ask him to step aside.

The next step is to direct the ICPC and EFCC to investigate this particular case in depth and have a report on your desk in 14 days.

I saw pictures of Adeniyi’s visit to the EFCC Director General and from the look on the face of the DG, he wasn’t happy having the man breathing the same air as he.

I believe he will be happy to do a thorough job to get to the root of this matter.

How did Adeniyi open all those bank accounts?

How did he open the accounts with the Central Bank (that one is still giving me a headache Sir)?

How was the Agency inserted into the national Budget which you signed Sir?

How was he allocated offices in the Federal Secretariat?

Who fed you false information?

These and more can be unravelled within the said 14 days.

Finally Sir, expeditiously set up an independent panel to review the Oronsaye Report and set out a timeline for implementation.

Our nation’s Civil Service is broken.

There are more ‘fake’ Presidential Task Forces out there that you probably have never heard of.

There are people who have been silently receiving budgetary allocations for years for ‘government offices’ doing nothing and just sharing it while maintaining a low profile.

I heard one of the sins of Adeniyi was his ego.

He made himself too visible.

You promised to implement the Oronsaye Report as part of your campaign promises.

It is obviously something that requires a President with uncommon testicular fortitude to handle but you have already shown that you have bigger cojones than your predecessors.

It would be quite reassuring if you made these announcements yourself rather than through a Press Release signed by your Press Secretary.

His last presser on this matter didn’t go down well with the people.

Reassure the nation that you recognise the harm this matter has caused to the nation’s credibility (this guy met with foreign investors and Ambassadors of other countries), and promise that all steps are being taken to ensure that it never happens again!

Thank you for your time,

Your well-wisher,

Wale Bakare.

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