President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the existence and operations of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), a body the presidency now describes as fictitious. The directive follows the inclusion of the council in the 2026 budget with a N1.3 billion allocation, despite the Chief of Staff having denied its existence in October 2025. The President gave the ICPC 30 days to conclude the probe and submit a report.
The Senate has distanced itself from the council, its purported Director-General Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, and the budgetary allocation, calling the matter an executive issue unless a formal petition is received. Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, stated that Adeyemi presented forged appointment letters and claimed to be a presidential appointee, leading to a police investigation and criminal charges. The presidency also accused Adeyemi of using fake documents to fraudulently open a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) account in the council's name.
However, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) contradicted this, stating the council has no account with the CBN. Adeyemi, who claimed to have paid N400 million by proxy to Speaker Gbajabiamila for his appointment, has gone into hiding. Police raided his family home in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, arresting his father and another person. The ICPC is also to examine how the council secured approvals for 300 staff and office space at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
Tinubu directed all federal ministries, departments and agencies to assist the ICPC in the investigation. He emphasized the need to protect the integrity of government institutions from impersonation, forgery and exploitation of procedural gaps. The ICPC is to identify systemic weaknesses and recommend corrective measures.
The presidency claims Adeniyi Adeyemi forged documents to create a non-existent council, yet that same council appeared in the 2026 budget with a N1.3 billion allocation approved by the President's own office. The federal government denied the council's existence months before including it in the Appropriation Bill, raising questions about oversight in budget preparation. If the council was truly phantom, the fact it cleared multiple bureaucratic stages points to deeper institutional lapses. The investigation must explain how fiction became line-item reality in a N58.18 trillion budget.
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