Tinubu’s Chief of Staff Gbajabiamila Faces Sack Over Trading of Appointments to Highest Payer

President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, is under fire for allegedly tampering with the list of presidential appointees and selling them to the highest bidder.

According to the Daily Post, many of Tinubu’s loyalists are unhappy with Gbajabiamila’s actions and want him out of the Presidential Villa.

Last week, President Tinubu appointed 10 Resident Electoral Commissioners (REC) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) .

However, Newsflash Nigeria learned that Gbajabiamila had replaced some of the names approved by the President with his own choices.

A source told Daily Post that one of the affected names was that of Mrs Oluwatoyin Babalola, the former Legal Adviser of INEC, who was nominated by Tinubu as the REC for Ekiti State.

Gbajabiamila allegedly swapped her name with that of a former commissioner under ex-Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.

The source said: “The REC from Ekiti that he (Gbajabiamila) put there, the man was Fayemi’s former commissioner, that was not the person Asiwaju signed off on. The person Asiwaju signed off on was one Toyin (Mrs Oluwatoyin Babalola), the former Legal Adviser of INEC.

“But when the announcement was made, two members of the President’s cabinet met with him to complain that the person they nominated had been changed with another person. The President was infuriated, he said he checked the name of the woman before he signed the list.

“He summoned his CoS, but when he arrived, he was stuttering. The President asked him to bring the list he signed.

“The President said so, what he has been hearing is true that whenever he signs something, it will be changed. The President gave three instances that he signed for something and was changed. He felt bad and gave him the last warning. He directed that the woman’s name must be on the list.”

“When the President found out that the name he signed off on was changed, he was very angry. He called Gbajabiamila to his office and confronted him. He asked him to bring the original list he signed. He told him that this was not the first time he had done this and warned him to stop it. He ordered him to restore the name of Mrs Babalola to the list.”

The source also revealed that there was a plot to remove Gbajabiamila from his position and offer him an ambassadorial post instead. “This is the fifth time he has embarrassed the President. He has lost his trust and confidence. There is a plan to send him away from the Villa,” the source said.

Another source confirmed that some of Gbajabiamila’s duties had been taken over by the President’s Private Principal Secretary, Akeem Okunola. The source also said that the President was assembling a team to assist Gbajabiamila in his work.

The source added: “Another issue that annoyed the President was the National Social Investments Programme (NSIP). The person he recommended for the job was Halima Sheu, who was sacked by the former Minister of Finance, Sadiya Farouq, for supporting us. He promised to bring her back or give her a better position. But Gbajabiamila put someone else there without his consent.”

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