PFIPC scandal: Embattled DG explains how ‘non-existent’ agency made it into 2026 budget as Reps begin probe

The self-proclaimed Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), Prince Adeniyi Matthew Adeyemi, has claimed he does not know how the agency eventually secured a ₦1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act despite his arrest before the budget process was concluded.

Adeyemi made the assertion in an interview with social media influencer Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, shortly after his arrest, as the House of Representatives commenced an investigation into the legality of the agency and its inclusion in the federal budget.

The House Ad-hoc Committee investigating the PFIPC saga on Monday began public hearings, with officials from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) distancing their institutions from the creation and operation of the council. Lawmakers are seeking to establish how an agency the Federal Government says does not legally exist received a budgetary allocation of about ₦1.3 billion.

Speaking in the interview, Adeyemi denied allegations that the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, influenced the budgetary allocation. According to him, he personally approached senior officials at the Budget Office to seek the council’s inclusion in the federal budget.

“I went to the Budget Office in December 2024 to request that PFIPC be captured in the budget, but I was told the process for the 2025 budget had already closed. They advised me to submit proposals for the 2026 budget instead,” he said.

Adeyemi claimed he subsequently forwarded the required documents but was arrested before the appropriation process was completed.

“I was already in detention when the budget was being finalised. I was surprised when I later heard that the agency eventually appeared in the budget because I was no longer involved in the process,” he said.

The PFIPC has been at the centre of a major political controversy after the Presidency declared that no such agency was established by the Federal Government. Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga described the organisation as fictitious, while the Presidency accused Adeyemi of forging official documents, falsely presenting himself as a presidential appointee and using the purported agency to obtain official recognition.

President Bola Tinubu has since directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the entire affair, including the alleged forgery of appointment letters, the opening of bank accounts in the names of the fake agency and its interactions with government institutions and foreign diplomats.

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives’ investigative panel said its inquiry is aimed at uncovering how the controversial body found its way into the 2026 Appropriation Act and whether public officials or institutions compromised established budgetary procedures. The committee is expected to invite additional officials, including those from the Budget Office and the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, as the investigation continues.