‘Phantom’ council: Push for independent probe grows

There is a growing demand for an independent, transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the operations of the disputed Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claimed to be the Director General of the council. The Presidency has also directed security and anti-graft agencies to identify, arrest and prosecute government officials […]

There is a growing demand for an independent, transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the operations of the disputed Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claimed to be the Director General of the council.

The Presidency has also directed security and anti-graft agencies to identify, arrest and prosecute government officials who may have collaborated with Adeyemi to run the ‘phantom’ council.

This is coming amid more revelations on the existence of the fictitious council, the inclusion of its N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 budget, approvals for employment of over 300 staff members and an office space at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja.

Gbajabiamila had issued a disclaimer, dismissing the existence of the council, but Adeyemi, in a press conference on Thursday, June 25, countered the disclaimer, describing it as “a cloud of public misrepresentation, institutional denial and a deliberate attempt to silence legitimate questions that concern matters of national interest.”

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He called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to set up an independent investigative panel to, among others, compel the Chief of Staff to produce all the official documents he has signed since assumption of office for forensic analysis, review budgetary references and institutional records, investigate alleged assassination attempts on his life and compel Gbajabiamila to step aside pending the outcome of the probe.

Consequently, the Presidency, in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, tagged Adeyemi a “con artist,” adding that a criminal charge had been filed against him after a police investigation.

However, the statement was silent on the inclusion of the disputed council in the 2026 budget with an allocation of N1.3 billion; an alleged sum of N400 million Adeyemi claimed to have paid Gbajabiamila by proxy to facilitate his appointment, with a balance of N200 million, and 48 per cent of the council’s N27 billion take-off grant allegedly demanded by the former Speaker.

A scrutiny of the statement, as well as insights from senior retired civil servants and civil society organisations, raised more critical questions bordering on public accountability, transparency and institutional integrity.

There are also questions over how the council, whose existence the Chief of Staff denied in an October 2025 response to the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s inquiry, still made it to the 2026 Appropriation Bill submitted to the National Assembly by the president two months later.

President Tinubu presented a N58.18 trillion budget to the Senate on December 19, 2025.

The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED), in a statement on Sunday by its Executive Director, Comrade Ibrahim Zikirullahi, called for an independent investigation and urged the immediate suspension of the Chief of Staff, pending the outcome of the probe.

The civil society organisation said the allegations surrounding the PFIPC had raised serious concerns about transparency, accountability and governance in the country, noting that “the grave allegations” should be subjected to an independent and transparent investigation.

According to CHRICED, the controversy reinforces concerns about what it described as increasing opacity in governance and the need for stronger institutional accountability.

Among its demands, the organisation called for the immediate suspension of Gbajabiamila pending the conclusion of investigations, the establishment of an independent investigative panel comprising civil society representatives, anti-corruption experts and jurists, and the publication of details of all government-linked councils, committees and intervention bodies, including their mandates, funding and operational structures.

CHRICED maintained that the PFIPC controversy should be thoroughly investigated to strengthen public trust in government institutions and ensure that anyone found culpable is held accountable in accordance with the law.

 

Expose Adeyemi’s collaborators, Presidency tells investigators

The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has also urged investigators to go beyond Adeyemi and expose the internal network that enabled him to operate.

Ajayi, in a statement on his verified X handle, urged the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate all officials within public institutions who might have aided the scandal.

He, however, said much of the public debate had ignored the fact that the government institutions detected the alleged fraud and acted on it.

“What is not in doubt is that internal collaborators enabled Adeyemi to get this far. That is precisely what investigators from the DSS, the Police and the EFCC must now unravel.

“The criminal network within the affected institutions must be dismantled and everyone found to have played a role should be arrested and prosecuted.”

 

‘SGF invited council to summit’

Meanwhile, fresh questions have emerged over an invitation letter purportedly issued by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) and addressed to Adeyemi. The letter, dated June 24, 2025, was issued on the letterhead of The Presidency, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Political and Economic Affairs Office.

The letter, which was signed by Engr. Nadungu Gagare, former Permanent Secretary, Political and Economic Affairs Office, for the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, invited “the Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) to join Nigeria’s delegation to the Canada-Africa Fintech Summit (CAFS) scheduled for August 3–8, 2025, at the Sheraton Centre Hotel in Toronto, Canada.”

“Given the above, you are urgently requested to register and involve other stakeholders in the program. Your experience, technical support, and presence will strengthen this delegation,” it read.

When contacted, Yomi Odunuga, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity to the Secretary to the Federal Government, Sen George Akume, declined to comment on the letter.

“I am not empowered to speak on that matter. Wait till tomorrow (today),” he said briefly.

Our correspondent also reached out to the Director of Press at the SGF office, Christopher Ugwuegbulam, who simply said in a WhatsApp message, “I completely align with the response you got from SA (Media).”