Last week, President Bola Tinubu sacked Fegho Umunubo, his Special Assistant on Digital and Creative Economy, who worked in the office of Vice Preside
Last week, President Bola Tinubu sacked Fegho Umunubo, his Special Assistant on Digital and Creative Economy, who worked in the office of Vice President, Kashim Shettima.
Now fresh details have emerged as to why he was given the boot. Umunubo was dismissed after being linked to a series of scams in the creative industry, which he executed under the cover of his presidential office.
He struck dubious sponsorship deals with filmmakers and creatives, promising government-backed funding and visibility that never materialised. But one of the deals that finally outed him and led to his sack, involved a sponsorship deal with author and filmmaker, Arese Ugwu, creator of the ‘The Smart Money Woman’ series.
Umunubo, acting in his official capacity, signed an agreement promising N10 million sponsorship for the premiere and marketing of Lara Unlimited, a spin-off of 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 Ugwu and other influencer. However, Umunobo failed to honour the terms of the agreement.
Late last month, Ugwu publicly accused Umunubo of fraud in a post on Instagram, saying, “Just so it’s clear that I’m not crashing out over 5 million naira as Fegho Umunubo would like you to believe. 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.”
Apparently, this was a recurring pattern. Nollywood people were lured into similar deals that never materialised, with Umunubo allegedly leveraging his proximity to power to win trust.
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. 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 Umunubo.
This is the first time the Tinubu administration has issued such a disclaimer against a presidential aide.
