Fresh details have emerged about why President Bola Tinubu sacked Fegho Umunubo, his Special Assistant on Digital and Creative Economy, who worked in the office of Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Sources in the presidency told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Umunubo was dismissed after being linked to a series of scams in the creative industry, which he allegedly executed under the cover of his presidential office.
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According to presidency sources, Mr Umunubo struck dubious sponsorship deals with filmmakers and creatives, promising government-backed funding and visibility that never materialised.
One of the most notable cases involves a sponsorship deal with author and filmmaker Arese Ugwu, creator of the “The Smart Money Woman” series.
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Documents seen by this newspaper show that Mr Umunubo, acting in his official capacity as the Special Assistant to the President on Digital and Creative Economy, signed an agreement promising N10 million sponsorship for the premiere and marketing of Lara Unlimited, a spin-off of Ms Ugwu’s work.
The agreement included extensive promotional rights for the presidency’s digital economy office to be branded on event backdrops and movie posters, a 30–45 second advert before screenings, features in podcast episodes, and shoutouts from Ms Ugwu and other influencers.
However, Mr Umunobo failed to honour the terms of the agreement.
On 30 August, Ms Ugwu publicly accused Mr Umunubo of fraud in a post on Instagram. “Just so it’s clear that I’m not crashing out over 5 million naira as Fegho Umunubo would like you to believe,” she wrote. “He owes me N10 million, but this is about something bigger… It’s about dangling a fund of $617 million and another of N5 billion for over 12 months… playing games with my resilience when I was trying so hard to pivot from the gbese I was already in. Then finding out that he had no authorisation to be signing the agreements he was signing or making the promises he was making on behalf of the Vice President of Nigeria.”
According to presidency insiders, this became a recurring pattern. Nollywood people were lured into similar deals that never materialised, with Mr Umunubo allegedly leveraging his proximity to power to win trust.
“He scammed multiple people in the industry using that office,” a presidency source told PREMIUM TIMES.
Mr Umunubo was quietly relieved of his duties in August, but sources said he continued to parade himself as a presidential aide.
This forced the State House to issue a public announcement on Monday, formally announcing his disengagement.
READ ALSO: Tinubu sacks presidential aide
In the statement signed by the Director of Information at the State House, Abiodun Oladunjoye, the government warned stakeholders in the digital and creative sector to desist from dealing with Mr Umunubo.
“Kindly note that he no longer represents this administration in any capacity. Henceforth, anyone who interfaces with him in the name of President Tinubu’s administration does so at his or her own risk,” the statement read.
This is the first time the Tinubu administration has issued such a disclaimer against a presidential aide.
PREMIUM TIMES reached out to Mr Umunubo via his Instagram handle. He has not responded to our message as of the time of this report.
He, however, reacted to the news of his dismissal, writing on Instagram that: “It’s been an honour to serve this great country and the creative industry.”
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