By Joseph Oriowo
The latest campaign of calumny against the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Hakeem Gbajabiamila, has crossed the line from political criticism into outright fabrication. The recent allegation by one Adeniyi Adeyemi that Gbajabiamila was “involved in the establishment” of a so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, and worse, that he “included” the said agency in the 2026 budget, shows how far detractors were willing to go in their desperate quest to stain Gbajabiamila’s pristine public service record and personal reputation.
Both claims are false, reckless, and betray a fundamental ignorance of how the Nigerian budgetary process works. The constitutional truth: the Chief of Staff has no budget authority. Let us begin with the law, because Adeyemi’s entire case collapses at this first hurdle. Under Nigeria’s Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the power to propose, allocate, and include agencies in the annual budget rests solely with the Executive as a whole, through the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Budget Office of the Federation, and ultimately the President, who transmits the Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly.
The Office of the Chief of Staff is not a budgetary office. It is not a line ministry; it does not control the envelope system or issue budget call circulars. It does not sit on the Federal Executive Council as a voting member with a portfolio. The Chief of Staff’s statutory function is coordination, advisory, and administrative management of the Presidency. To allege that Gbajabiamila “included an agency in the 2026 budget” is therefore to allege that he performed an act for which he has zero legal authority. It is like accusing the President’s private secretary of signing treasury warrants. It cannot happen, because the system does not permit it.
