Tinubu seeks answers over ‘phantom’ council
By Afeez Hanafi, Hussein Yahaya & Baba Martins President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the activities of the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and submit a report within 30 days. This is just as the Senate on Tuesday distanced itself […]
By Afeez Hanafi, Hussein Yahaya & Baba Martins
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the activities of the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and submit a report within 30 days.
This is just as the Senate on Tuesday distanced itself from the ‘fictitious’ PFIPC, its purported Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi, and the council’s N1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 budget.
The Red Chamber maintained that the scandal is an executive matter it would not dabble into, except it receives a petition to that effect.
Gbajabiamila had issued a disclaimer, dismissing the existence of the council, but Adeyemi countered, describing it as “a cloud of public misrepresentation, institutional denial and a deliberate attempt to silence legitimate questions that concern matters of national interest.”
Consequently, the Presidency, in a July 1 statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, tagged Adeyemi a “con artist” and stated that a criminal charge had been filed against him after a police investigation.
The statement was, however, silent on the inclusion of the disputed council in the 2026 budget with an allocation of N1.3 billion and an alleged sum of N400 million Adeyemi claimed to have paid Gbajabiamila by proxy to facilitate his appointment. A further scrutiny of the statement 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.
Findings further revealed that Adeyemi got approvals for employment of 300 staff members and an office space at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja.
Revelations on the operations of the phantom took a new twist on Monday when the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) insisted that the disputed council has no account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), contradicting the Presidency’s statement that Adeyemi used fake documents and misled the OAGF to fraudulently open a CBN account.
After Adeyemi went into hiding, police raided his family residence in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, on Monday and arrested his father and one other.
Amid persistent calls for an independent probe, President Tinubu on Tuesday directed the ICPC to conduct a thorough investigation into the operations of the ‘phantom’ council and other related matters. The President directed that the investigation be concluded and a comprehensive report submitted to him within 30 days.
This was disclosed by Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the statement, the directive followed the “discovery of the fictitious PFIPC, which was never established by the Federal Government of Nigeria and has no basis in any law, presidential instrument, executive approval, or other lawful act of Government.”
“One Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew presented himself as the Director-General of the so-called PFIPC and falsely claimed to be a presidential appointee,” it stated.
Among the issues to be investigated by the ICPC are the “forged appointment letters and other official government documents; the use of a false claim of presidential appointment to seek or obtain official recognition and diplomatic support, including visa facilitation; and the opening of multiple bank accounts in the names of purported government agencies using allegedly forged documents.”
“President Tinubu directed the ICPC to investigate not only the conduct of the principal individual and other collaborators involved but also the wider circumstances that may have enabled a fictitious body and a false claim of presidential appointment to acquire an appearance of official legitimacy.
“The investigation is to examine the provenance and use of false official documents; the processes through which official recognition or diplomatic support may have been sought or obtained; the opening and operation of any related bank accounts; the source and movement of any funds involved; and the role of any public officer, private individual, financial institution, intermediary or other person or entity that may have facilitated, enabled or participated in the alleged scheme,” the statement added.
President Tinubu further directed the commission to identify any weaknesses in government and institutional procedures that may have been exploited and recommend immediate measures to prevent the recurrence of similar abuses.
The statement added that all ministries, departments and agencies of the federal government have been directed to provide the ICPC with all relevant information, records and assistance required for the expeditious completion of the investigation.
President Tinubu stated that the integrity of the Presidency and the institutions of the federal government must be protected against impersonation, forgery, abuse of official identity and the exploitation of weaknesses in the public service. He directed that all persons found culpable be treated strictly in accordance with applicable law.
Senate absolves self from council
In a similar development, the Senate finally broke its silence on the scandal after the plenary on Tuesday. Its spokesperson, Senator Yemi Adaramodu (Ekiti South), said the controversy is an executive matter the Red Chamber would not dabble into, unless it receives a petition.
Adaramodu admitted that while the agency surprisingly has a budget line in the 2026 Appropriation Act, the National Assembly did not insert it. He maintained that the responsibility for vetting appointees and managing budget line origins rests entirely with the Presidency.
He also noted that because the matter is already a subject of litigation, parliamentary rules forbid the Senate from intervening on its own accord.
“The allegations and counter-allegations over a fake agency and a fake Director-General are all within the executive, which should sort it out, specifically between the office of the Chief of Staff and the alleged fake DG.
“The budget line being referred to was not created or inserted by the National Assembly, and it is not the duty of the Senate or the House of Representatives to carry out security checks on those supposedly appointed to head the various MDAs,” Adaramodu said.
He explained that if Adeyemi were among the presidential appointees screened and confirmed by the Senate, the upper chamber might appear to be complicit.
“However, if a petition is sent to the Senate by any of the feuding parties or any concerned Nigerian regarding the existence or non-existence of the agency or the DG, it will be legislatively looked into,” the spokesperson added.
Gbajabiamila demands retraction
Gbajabiamila, who is at the centre of the controversy, has asked Adeyemi to retract the allegations against him and apologise or face a N10 billion defamation suit. The request was contained in a letter signed by ‘Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) for Pinheiro LP, lawyers to the Chief of Staff.
The letter dated July 6, 2026 described Adeyemi’s allegations as “not only false but gravely defamatory,” and were “designed to portray our client as corrupt, dishonest, criminally culpable, morally bankrupt, administratively incompetent, a murderer and unfit to occupy public office.”
The lawyers claimed that Gbajabiamila had never had any contact whatsoever with Adeyemi, saying the decision to “fabricate and publish allegations against a person with whom you have had absolutely no relationship or interaction underscores the reckless, baseless and malicious nature of your publication.”
The letter also noted that it is disturbing that Adeyemi resorted to defaming the Chief of Staff through press statements after a criminal charge had been filed against him and gave him a 72-hour ultimatum to retract the allegations.
They warned that failure to comply would trigger both criminal defamation proceedings and a “civil suit seeking N10bn in aggravated and exemplary damages, to be paid to a charity of Gbajabiamila’s choice, alongside a perpetual injunction and a court order compelling the apology.”
SERAP asks Akpabio, Abbas to explain N1.3bn allocation
Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Senate President Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to “urgently disclose certified copies of all documents relating to the consideration and approval of the allocation of over N1.3 billion to the ‘fake’ council.
SERAP, in a statement by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, urged the two leaders “to promptly exercise the National Assembly’s constitutional powers under sections 88 and 89 of the Nigerian Constitution to investigate the circumstances surrounding the allocation to ‘a fictitious presidential council’ in the 2026 Appropriation Act and to identify anyone responsible for any irregularities.”
SERAP also demanded certified copies of records identifying the members of the National Assembly committees that considered the allocation and the names and official designations of all public officers or representatives who appeared before those committees to defend the proposed allocation.
In a Freedom of Information request dated July 4, 2026 and signed by Oluwadare, the organisation described the N1.3bn allocation of the council in the 2026 budget and the Presidency’s insistence that it is fictitious as “conflicting accounts” that raise serious concerns on the integrity of Nigeria’s appropriations process, legislative oversight, public financial management and accountability.
SERAP said, “Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law. The National Assembly ought to keep an eye on what the executive is doing and to keep the Presidency and agencies of government in check, including before and during the appropriation process, by thoroughly scrutinising the executive’s budget proposals before any authorisation.
“The Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] places significant responsibilities on the National Assembly in relation to the appropriation process. These constitutional duties require the National Assembly not merely to approve the Executive’s budget proposals, but to scrutinise, debate and authorise public expenditure in line with the Constitution.”
In the FoI request, the organsation said Nigerians have a right to know whether public funds were appropriated for an entity that was not lawfully established and, if so, how it occurred.
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the National Assembly to comply with our request in the public interest.
“Disclosure of the requested information would strengthen public confidence in the credibility of the National Assembly and the integrity of the appropriations process, promote transparency in the management of public resources, and enable citizens to meaningfully scrutinise the exercise of parliamentary oversight,” it added.
Tinubu govt exposed to ridicule – Atiku
The Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, alleged that the tactics “employed by the Presidency to rescue” Gbajabiamila from the allegations surrounding the PFIPC scandal “have exposed the Tinubu administration to greater public ridicule and suspicion.”
In a statement on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku queried that if Adeyemi is a fraudster as alleged by the government spokespersons, why has he not been arraigned since he was first invited for questioning in November 2025 and how was he able to pay a courtesy visit to the leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission while under investigation.
“These are legitimate questions that deserve answers. Indeed, this scandal is assuming proportions even more troubling than the Abdulrasheed Maina affair. In the Maina case, law enforcement agencies acted swiftly. Investigations were launched, arrests were made and prosecutions followed,” the statement added.
Atiku further said that while the dust raised by the scandal has yet to settle, fresh revelations from the 2026 Appropriation Act, where N8.4 billion was earmarked for road projects under the budget of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education, “exposed a disturbing pattern of budgetary manipulations.”
He argued that Tinubu cannot claim ignorance of the developments, saying the Appropriation Act bears his signature.
“The agencies involved operate under his administration. If billions of naira can be hidden under agencies with no legal mandate to execute such projects, then either the President approved these distortions or he was completely unaware of what was happening under his watch.
“The first possibility would amount to complicity. The second would amount to an admission of an absentee presidency where consequential decisions are being taken without the knowledge or supervision of the President.
“The National Assembly must also explain how these bizarre appropriations escaped legislative scrutiny. Parliament was established as the watchdog of the public purse and not as an assembly whose principal function is to chant ‘On Your Mandate’ while obvious irregularities sail through the appropriation process without interrogation.
“Nigeria cannot continue on this dangerous path where budgets are treated as instruments for patronage and public institutions are converted into conduits for questionable expenditures. The Nigerian people deserve answers, and this administration owes them nothing less than a full, transparent and independent investigation into these troubling revelations,” Atiku said.