Fake Agency: Senate Backs Tinubu’s Probe, Suspends N1.3bn Agency’s Budget Inquiry

• Awaits ICPC findings before taking action 

•Insists no petition before it, budget line originated from executive

• ADC: Only independent inquiry acceptable 

•Atiku wants inclusion of ADC, PDP, NDC in probe 

•I spoke with Gbaja through late Tanimola, Says Adeniyi

Chuks Okocha and Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The Senate has stepped down a motion seeking a full-scale investigation into the controversial N1.303 billion budgetary allocation to the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), choosing instead to await the outcome of a probe already ordered by President Bola Tinubu.

The decision came after the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, who presided over plenary, ruled that the upper chamber should refrain from debating the matter since the presidency had already directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the controversy.

The motion, sponsored by Senator Suleiman Kawu (APC, Kano South), sought an urgent probe into the budgetary allocation, operations and legal status of the PFIPC, amid allegations that the council was a non-existent government agency.

It was titled, “Urgent Need to Investigate the Budgetary Allocation, Operations and Controversy Surrounding the Purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) to Safeguard the Integrity of the Senate and the Federal Government.”

The motion warned that the controversy had raised serious concerns over the integrity of the National Assembly’s appropriation process and its constitutional oversight responsibilities.

Presenting the motion, Kawu said the allegations surrounding the council had dominated public discourse in recent weeks, with conflicting claims over its existence, mandate and budgetary allocation.

He argued that the controversy threatened the credibility of the Senate and called for an investigation into what he described as possible administrative failures, internal collaboration or fraudulent activities that allegedly led to the inclusion of the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act under Budget Code 0111062001.

The lawmaker urged the Senate to mandate its Committees on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, as well as Appropriations, to unravel how the N1.303 billion allocation was proposed, scrutinised, justified and eventually approved.

He also sought an investigation into the ministries, departments and agencies, as well as officials responsible for inserting the budget line, and whether any funds had already been released, committed or spent under the allocation.

According to him, the proposed investigation should also determine whether any bank account had been opened or operated in connection with the council.

However, immediately after the motion was presented, Jibrin ruled that the Senate should not proceed with deliberations on the issue.

He noted that the executive arm had already initiated an investigation through the ICPC following President Tinubu’s directive.

The Deputy Senate President said it would be inappropriate for the Senate to embark on a parallel investigation while the executive probe was underway, urging lawmakers to await the outcome before deciding on any legislative intervention.

The controversy surrounding the PFIPC, has intensified in recent weeks following a public dispute between the presidency and the man claiming to be the council’s Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, had publicly disowned both the agency and its purported chief executive, describing the organisation as unknown to the Presidency.

Mathew, however, rejected the claim initially, insisting that the council existed and alleging that Gbajabiamila was fully aware of its operations.

He further alleged that the Chief of Staff collected N400 million from him to facilitate his appointment and later demanded 48 per cent of the N1.303 billion appropriated for the council in the 2026 budget.

The allegations have generated widespread public concern over the integrity of the budget process and renewed calls for accountability.

The Senate had also distanced itself from the controversy, insisting that it had no petition before it to warrant any legislative intervention.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu (APC, Ekiti South), said the upper chamber could not comment officially on the matter because no formal complaint had been submitted to it.

He acknowledged reports indicating that the purported agency had a budget line in the 2026 Appropriation Act but maintained that the controversy originated within the executive arm of government.

Adaramodu stressed that the National Assembly neither created nor inserted the budget line and therefore could not be held responsible for the alleged existence of a non-existent agency.

He also explained that the Senate had no constitutional responsibility to verify the identities or appointments of heads of government agencies that did not require legislative confirmation.

According to him, had the alleged Director-General been one of the presidential nominees screened and confirmed by the Senate, the chamber might have had a direct role in addressing the controversy.

He further noted that the matter had already assumed a legal dimension, making it inappropriate for the Senate to interfere while litigation and executive investigations were ongoing.

The Senate spokesman assured the public that if any of the parties involved or any concerned Nigerian formally petitioned the Senate over the existence or otherwise of the agency, the matter would receive legislative attention in accordance with the Senate’s rules and constitutional mandate.

The Senate decision to suspend consideration of Kawu’s motion effectively placed the controversy in the hands of the executive for now.

The lawmakers are expected to revisit the issue only after the ICPC had concluded its investigation into the disputed N1.303 billion budget allocation and the circumstances surrounding the emergence of the purported council.

ADC: Only Independent Inquiry Acceptable

The African Democratic Congress (ADC), yesterday, said the only panacea to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal would be to establish an independent inquiry.

In a statement, the party said it had taken note of President Tinubu’s directive to the ICPC to investigate the PFIPC scandal.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said,  ‘’We insist, however, that only an independent judicial panel will be able to provide answers beyond all reasonable doubt to the many questions that this historic scandal has thrown up.

‘’A few days ago, the ADC called for an independent inquiry into this matter, identified the institutions requiring investigation, and warned against any attempt to reduce the scandal to the actions of a single individual.

‘’We, therefore, note that President Tinubu has now accepted the central argument advanced by the ADC: that this matter requires an investigation and should not simply be explained away, as his Presidency had initially attempted to do.

‘’However, by handing the investigation to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), an agency of government under the Executive, it conveys the impression that the President intends to keep the investigation in-house and possibly be a judge in his own case.

‘’A Presidency that is at the very heart of a historic scandal such as this does not have the credibility to authorise an investigation into a matter that has brought an entire country into disrepute.

‘’This is why the President should seize this moment as an opportunity to restore some credibility to his government by allowing an independent inquiry made up of trusted citizens.

‘’A government that is drowning in scandals cannot be trusted to investigate itself. Second, the ADC is equally concerned that, even as the President has ordered an investigation, the Presidency’s statement remains stubbornly presumptuous, appearing to have concluded that the appointment letters and other official documents were ‘forged’, even before any investigation had started.

‘’Yet, one of the central questions that the investigation is expected to determine is whether the appointment letters and other documents that Mr. Adeyemi relied on were genuinely issued, as he has claimed, or whether they were forged, as the Presidency has insisted.

‘’Therefore, by anchoring the investigation on its own position, the government would have effectively biased the entire process,’’ he said.

Atiku: ADC, PDP, NDC Must Be Included in Probe

Presidential candidate of the ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has said President Bola Tinubu’s directive to the ICPC to investigate the activities of PFIPC was a reluctant but significant response to the seven-day ultimatum he issued, demanding a thorough and transparent investigation into the scandal.

Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the President’s latest directive amounted to an admission that the Police investigation the Presidency repeatedly relied upon was either incomplete or incapable of answering the fundamental questions Nigerians have continued to ask.

“Only one week ago, the Presidency emphatically told Nigerians that the matter had already been investigated by the Police following petitions from the Chief of Staff in October 2025; that the suspect had been arrested; that searches had been conducted; that documentary exhibits had been recovered; that bank accounts had been traced; that statements had been obtained; and that criminal charges had already been filed before the Federal High Court.

“If all of that is true, what exactly is the ICPC expected to spend another thirty days investigating?

“If the Police investigation was comprehensive, another investigation is unnecessary. If another investigation has become necessary, then the inevitable conclusion is that the earlier investigation was insufficient. The President cannot simultaneously maintain both positions without contradicting his own government.”

Atiku said the contradiction became even more striking because the President has now directed the ICPC to investigate “the wider circumstances” surrounding the alleged PFIPC.

“That directive is, in itself, a repudiation of the earlier narrative that this was merely the handiwork of one alleged impostor.

“The issue before Nigerians is no longer whether one individual allegedly forged documents. The issue is how an organisation the Presidency insists never existed allegedly acquired office accommodation, interacted with government institutions, sought diplomatic recognition, reportedly conducted recruitment exercises, operated multiple bank accounts and projected the authority of government over an extended period.

“Institutions do not accidentally confer legitimacy. Bureaucracies do not unknowingly sustain official-looking operations for months. Somewhere between the Presidency’s denials and the appearance of official legitimacy lies the truth Nigerians deserve to know.”

He described the thirty-day timeline handed to the ICPC as both excessive and difficult to defend.

“This is not a fresh crime scene. It is not a newly discovered fraud. It is a matter the Presidency insists had already been thoroughly investigated. If that claim is true, the ICPC should not require another month to rediscover what the Police supposedly established months ago. Nigerians deserve answers within days, not another cycle of delay.”

Atiku also pointed to another apparent inconsistency in the official chronology.

“While the Presidency insists the investigation had effectively been concluded months ago, reports indicate that the father of the principal suspect was only arrested last week. That development naturally raises questions about the status and scope of the investigation.

“Nigerians deserve a clear explanation of how that chronology aligns with the earlier assertion that the matter had already been comprehensively investigated and prosecuted.”

According to Atiku, the greater problem lies not merely in the timeline but in the structure of the investigation itself.

“What Nigerians demanded was never another internal government investigation. We demanded an independent investigation.

“The federal government is itself central to this controversy because the questions being asked concern the conduct of public institutions, official processes and possible institutional failures.

“In every constitutional democracy, a party whose conduct is under scrutiny cannot simultaneously appoint itself investigator, judge and final authority over its own case.”

He said allowing a government agency to investigate allegations whose outcome might ultimately reflect on the same government fell short of the standard of independence Nigerians expect.

Adeyemi: I Spoke With Gbaja Through Late Tanimola

The self-acclaimed Director-General of PFIPC, Adeniyi Adeyemi, has claimed that his only communication with the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, was through his late associate, Dolapo Tanimola.

Adeyemi made the claim yesterday during an interview with social media influencer, Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM), amid the lingering controversy surrounding the council.

According to him, he never met Gbajabiamila physically either before or after his purported appointment as director-general of the PFIPC.

“I think three times I have spoken with Gbajabiamila, through my late friend, Dolapo Tanimola,” Adeyemi said.

Asked whether the conversations were held via video call, he replied: “No, it was not on video call.”

Adeyemi said he could neither accuse Gbajabiamila of lying nor confirm that he was telling the truth, insisting that only an impartial probe could establish the facts.

“I would not say he is lying, and I won’t say he is saying the truth. That is why, during my press conference, I pleaded with Mr President to set up an investigative panel to look into this whole issue and unravel the truth to know who is involved,” he said.

The latest remarks came a day after Gbajabiamila threatened to file a N10 billion defamation suit against Adeyemi over allegations linking him to bribery and the murder of Tanimola.