Dino threatens lawsuit over NRS Chief, Zacch Adedeji’s role in APC Presidential campaign fund committee

Former Kogi West Senator Dino Melaye has threatened to sue over the appointment of Nigeria Revenue Service Chairman Zacch Adedeji as Deputy Director of Fundraising in the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council for the 2027 election.

Melaye, a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress in Kogi State, questioned the legality of Adedeji combining his role as head of the country’s revenue service with a position responsible for fundraising for President Bola Tinubu’s re-election campaign.

Speaking in a video posted on his official X account on Sunday, Melaye said he would approach the court to test whether Adedeji’s appointment violated public service rules and constituted a conflict of interest.

“And you are serving as the country’s Chairman of Nigerian Revenue Service, NRS, formally known as FIRS. Is there no conflict in this? As a lawyer, by the grace of God, on Monday, I’m going to court. We have to test that,” he said.

Melaye argued that Adedeji, as a public servant, was expected to comply with the Public Service Rules and public ethics guidelines.

“If that is not conflict of interest, I don’t know what else it would be. That a man who is a public servant, a man who is a salary earner, a man who is supposed to observe the provisions of the public ethics guidelines of Public Service Rules (PSR)—the man who is supposed to observe PSR is not just supporting Tinubu, he is a member of the Presidential Campaign Council, and he is the Deputy Director in charge of fundraising,” he said.

He further questioned the decision by the APC to place a serving revenue chief in charge of fundraising for the campaign of the President, who is also the party’s presidential candidate.

Melaye also criticised Tinubu’s decision to chair the APC Presidential Campaign Council, describing the arrangement as “disgraceful”.

“This is the first time in the history of the universe and the entire world that a presidential candidate of a political party will double as the Chairman of the Presidential Campaign Council for his own election,” he said.