A leadership crisis has erupted at the Border Communities Development Agency as outgoing Executive Secretary Dr Dakorinama Alabo George reportedly remains in office despite the Presidency officially appointing former House of Representatives member Abdulrazak Sa’ad Namdas as his replacement, according to a Daily Trust report.
Nigeria’s “phantom agency” scandal has barely cooled — and already another government body is embroiled in a leadership dispute that raises fresh questions about accountability in the federal bureaucracy.
A succession standoff is brewing at the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA), where Dr Dakorinama Alabo George, a governorship aspirant under the APC in Rivers State, allegedly remains in his position as Executive Secretary despite the Presidency formally announcing his replacement on June 26, Daily Trust reports.
President Tinubu had directed all political appointees intending to contest the 2027 elections to resign by March 31, 2026, pursuant to Section 88(1) of the Electoral Act, 2026, and INEC’s primary election timetable. George allegedly resigned to contest the Rivers State governorship primary alongside Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Kingsley Chinda and Tonye Cole.
However, Daily Trust could not independently verify whether George formally submitted his resignation from the BCDA.
In a statement by Presidential Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga, the Presidency announced former House of Representatives member Abdulrazak Sa’ad Namdas as the agency’s new Director General — describing him as a seasoned journalist, public relations practitioner and former spokesperson of the 8th House of Representatives who also served as Chief Press Secretary to former Adamawa Governor Boni Haruna.
The announcement itself raised a minor bureaucratic eyebrow: while the BCDA’s own website designates its head as “Executive Secretary,” the Presidency’s statement used “Director General” — an inconsistency that adds to the confusion surrounding the transition.
The standoff arrives at an awkward moment for the Tinubu administration, which is already under intense scrutiny over the PFIPC phantom agency scandal — a controversy that has exposed deep vulnerabilities in how Nigeria’s federal bureaucracy validates, accommodates and funds government institutions.
George has not publicly commented on his continued presence at the agency or the status of his reported resignation.
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