Three weeks after President Bola Tinubu announced the appointment of Dr Abdulrazak Namdas as Director-General of the Border Communities Development Agency, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, has been accused of withholding his appointment letter.

The development has created a leadership tussle at the agency as the immediate past chief executive, Dakorinama George, continues to perform official duties while implementation of the presidential directive stalled.

The Presidency had, on June 26, announced the appointment of Namdas, a former spokesperson for the House of Representatives, through a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

The statement expressly said Namdas was appointed to replace George, ‘who resigned to contest for an elective post in his home state,’ adding that the appointment took immediate effect.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Abdulrazak Sa’ad Namdas as the new Director General of the Border Communities Development Agency.

“Dr Namdas replaces Dr Dakorinama Alabo George, who resigned to contest for an elective post in his home state.

“President Tinubu also announced the appointment of Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon, as the Executive Director, Strategy & Commercial, of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company.

“President Tinubu also reappointed Mr Chukwuma Umeoji as Executive Director, Corporate Services of the NDPHC. The appointment took immediate effect,” the statement read in part.

However, more than three weeks after that announcement, Sunday PUNCH gathered that Namdas has yet to assume office because the formal instrument conveying the President’s decision was not released.

Further findings showed that George has continued to occupy the office, preside over official engagements and represent the agency at high-level government meetings.

The latest instance occurred on Thursday July 9, when George met with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, in Abuja to seek intervention for the release of funds for BCDA projects.

A detailed account of the meeting in a statement accompanied by official photographs, was published on Facebook by ‘Port Harcourt Force’, a Rivers-based news platform, where George was repeatedly described as the “Executive Secretary” of the agency.

“During the meeting, George congratulated the minister on his appointment and appealed for timely releases of budgetary allocations for ongoing infrastructure projects across Nigeria’s border communities,” the statement said.

George was also quoted as informing the minister that BCDA had facilitated a proposed $2bn Chinese investment for a livestock processing hub in Maigatari, Jigawa State, and was collaborating with security agencies on plans to establish a Border Communities Intelligence Corps.

The development has raised fresh questions over who currently exercises lawful authority over the agency.

A chieftain of the APC, Hamman Yero, alleged that the delay stemmed from the failure of the SGF to transmit the President’s appointment.

Speaking during an interview on Trust TV on Thursday monitored by Sunday PUNCH, Yero questioned why Namdas had yet to receive his appointment letter despite the Presidency’s public announcement.

“This is a mandate given to the President by Nigerians. On whose mandate is the SGF acting?” he asked.

“If the President directs that Namdas should be appointed and the SGF keeps the appointment letter without releasing it, then serious constitutional and administrative questions arise,” he said.

According to him, presidential appointments should ordinarily move seamlessly from presidential approval to issuance of appointment letters through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

“It is the Chief of Staff who normally transmits presidential approvals to the SGF for implementation. Is the Chief of Staff aware that Namdas has still not received his appointment letter? If he wasn’t aware before, he certainly should be aware now,” he said.

Yero also dismissed reports claiming George’s appointment had been restored, arguing that the lingering uncertainty raises broader concerns about compliance with presidential directives.

The BCDA controversy echoes an earlier leadership dispute at the Nigerian Postal Service in October 2023, when President Tinubu announced the appointment of Tola Odeyemi as the new Postmaster-General and Chief Executive Officer of NIPOST on October 11, 2023, following the removal of Sunday Adepoju.

Barely three days later, NIPOST issued a statement claiming Adepoju had been reinstated, triggering confusion over who was legally in charge of the postal agency.

The controversy escalated when workers locked the agency’s headquarters in Abuja and initially resisted Odeyemi’s resumption.

The impasse was eventually resolved after the Presidency reaffirmed Tinubu’s appointment of Odeyemi, who formally resumed office on October 16, 2023, while Adepoju vacated the position, bringing the leadership dispute to an end.

It was learnt from multiple sources familiar with developments inside BCDA that George never fully relinquished control of the agency after announcing his resignation to pursue the APC governorship ticket in Rivers State.

One senior official of the agency, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, alleged that George quietly returned to the agency after losing the APC primary election.

“He resigned to contest the governorship. After losing, he simply returned and resumed activities without any formal handover,” the source claimed.

The source further alleged that George continued to enjoy strong political backing within the administration.

The official claimed George’s continued presence at the agency was allegedly backed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, under whom he served as Commissioner for Works during Wike’s tenure as Rivers State governor.

“It was Wike who nominated him for the BCDA appointment in 2024. That relationship explains why he has remained influential despite his resignation,” the source said.

Sunday PUNCH could not independently verify the allegation linking the minister to the matter.

One of his allies, who asked not to be identified, described the claim as “mere insinuation.”

“Wike is also an appointee of the President and he cannot have such powers,” the ally said.

Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, maintained that the President’s decision remained valid.

“As far as I know, the President has not changed his mind. Namdas remains the Executive Secretary of the agency.

“All these things they are talking about, they don’t know what they are talking about. The President has not changed his mind about the appointment of Namdas as the head of that border agency,” Onanuga said.

Asked why Namdas had yet to assume office weeks after the appointment was announced, Onanuga explained that the issuance of the formal appointment letter falls within the responsibility of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

“His appointment has been communicated to the Office of the SGF, so the SGF has to give him a letter,” he said.

However, the presidential spokesman declined to comment on why the appointment letter had yet to be issued or whether the Presidency had sought an explanation from the SGF over the apparent delay.

The Head of the Information and Public Relations Department of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Christopher Ugwuegbulam, said an official response would only be provided upon receipt of a formal letter from our correspondent.

“What I normally prefer is for you to write to us and we would sit down to give you a response,” he said.

When contacted, the Special Adviser to the SGF on Media and Publicity, Mr Yomi Odunuga, said he did not have any information about the matter.

Similarly, efforts by our correspondents to get a reaction from George were not successful as he declined to comment on the matter.

Calls placed to his telephone line were not answered, while text and WhatsApp messages sent to him remained unanswered as of the time of filing this report.

Tinubu has final say – Lawyer, analysts

Speaking with one of our correspondents, a constitutional lawyer, Suraj Bamidele, said the President possesses the constitutional authority to appoint and remove heads of federal agencies.

“In the BCDA case, the issue is no longer simply who the President appointed. It is whether there is a clear, transparent and enforceable system for ensuring that presidential appointments are implemented consistently across government institutions.

“Where an appointment is announced by the Presidency but its implementation is delayed or disputed, it creates legal uncertainty that can affect the validity of administrative decisions taken during that period,” he said.

Reacting to the development, a public affairs analyst, Sunday Awosika, said the situation, if established, raises serious governance concerns.

“This allegation is a very bad commentary for our country. We have yet to conclude discussions surrounding the controversy over the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, and now another issue has emerged regarding compliance with presidential appointments,” he said.

“I think the President needs to rein in some officials because there are established mechanisms for managing government agencies. It will be difficult to understand how someone whose resignation was accepted and whose replacement has been publicly announced can continue to function in that office,” he added.

Also speaking, an analyst, Abdulrasaq Rasheed, said the event, as well as the ones that had been ‘exposed” to the public recently, pointed to the fact of lack of coordination as far as the running of the government was concerned.

“For me, the role of the Chief of Staff, in any government, is different from the SGF. The CoS is like a private secretary to the appointor, be he the Head of State or Governor of a state.

“All correspondence relating to appointments and the processes leading to such, are supposed to domicile in the office of the Secretary to the Government, because the office of SGF is the coordinator of the MDAs.

“How then do you think this won’t happen? The SGF is only being ‘matured’ perhaps, otherwise there will have been a clash of personalities, because of the overlap, whether deliberate or not, that had been happening,” he said.

We’re witnessing struggle for control of Presidency – ADC

The African Democratic Congress called on President Tinubu to resign if he could no longer exercise effective control over his administration, alleging that recent controversies surrounding federal appointments suggested that the President’s directives were no longer being implemented.

The opposition party also urged the National Assembly to immediately invoke its constitutional oversight powers to determine whether the President remains capable of effectively discharging the responsibilities of his office.

The call was contained in a statement issued on Friday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi.

The party argued that the BCDA controversy was not an isolated incident but part of what it described as a disturbing pattern of confusion over presidential appointments and executive authority.

It also referenced the controversy surrounding the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, describing it as a “phantom” body that reportedly operated at the highest levels of government despite questions over its legal existence.

According to the ADC, the recurring controversies raise serious concerns about whether the President retains effective control over one of the core constitutional powers of his office: the appointment and removal of public officials.

The party said, “If the reports concerning the Border Communities Development Agency are true, then this is no longer about one disputed appointment. It is about something far more disturbing: who is actually in charge of the Nigerian Presidency?” the party said.

“When a President announces the appointment of one person and another simply ignores that directive and carries on in office, Nigeria is no longer witnessing administrative confusion. We are witnessing a struggle for control of the Presidency itself.

“Taken together, these episodes reveal a Presidency steadily losing its monopoly over one of the most fundamental powers of government: the constitutional authority to appoint and remove public officers.” (Sunday PUNCH)