IN SHORT: Multiple Facebook posts claim that the secretary to the Nigerian government of the federation, George Akume, has resigned, and president Bola Tinubu has appointed one of his advisers, Hadiza Usman, as a replacement. This would make Usman the first woman to hold the position, but the presidency has debunked the claim.
Dozens of Facebook posts made in the last few days of June 2025 claim Nigerian president Bola Tinubu has appointed his adviser on policy coordination to be the country’s first female secretary to the government of the federation.
One post, dated 28 June 2025, reads:
Akume resign as SGF. Tinubu Appoints Hadiza Bala Usman as SGF. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed Hon. Hadiza Bala Usman as the new Secretary to the Government of the Federation, shortly after the resignation of George Akume. She becomes the first woman to occupy the position in Nigeria's history.
The claim began circulating a day after Umar Ganduje resigned as chair of the ruling All Progressives Congress, and there were reports that some of the party’s leaders were campaigning for Akume to replace Ganduje.
The APC’s deputy national chairperson (North), Ali Bukar Dalori, replaced Ganduje and will lead the party as acting chair till December 2025, when the party’s national executive committee will meet.
The same claim appears here, here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)
But has Akume resigned, and has he been replaced by Usman? We checked.
Government debunks the claim
“There has been no change in the status of His Excellency, Senator George Akume, as Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” read a statement released by Tinubu’s special adviser on information and strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, currently in Saint Lucia, has not made any new appointments. The information circulating about Akume's replacement is untrue. Agents of mischief fabricated it. The Presidency advises Nigerians to disregard the fake news,” the statement reads.
The office of the secretary to the government of the federation also debunked the claim in a statement signed by the office’s director of information and public relations.
“The office wishes to state emphatically that the information is entirely false, misleading, and baseless. The purported removal of the SGF from Office is only but a fabrication and a figment of the imagination of mischief makers who are out there to disinform and misinform the innocent public,” part of the statement reads.
At time of publication, the claim that Akume has resigned as the secretary to the government of the federation and has been replaced with Usman is false.
The same claim was found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
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