President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and report back in 30 days.
The Senate on Tuesday distanced itself from the “fictitious” PFIPC, its alleged Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi, and the council’s N1.3 billion line in the 2026 budget. The Red Chamber said it won’t act unless it gets a petition.
Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila had denied the council’s existence, but Adeyemi called the denial “a cloud of public misrepresentation, institutional denial and a deliberate attempt to silence legitimate questions that concern matters of national interest.” The Presidency, via Bayo Onanuga, called Adeyemi a “con artist” and said a criminal charge followed a police probe.
The Presidency’s statement stayed quiet about how the disputed council landed N1.3bn in the 2026 Appropriation Act and an alleged N400m Adeyemi says he paid by proxy to secure the post. Questions remain: the Chief of Staff had denied the council to the Foreign Affairs Ministry in October 2025, yet the council appeared in the December 2025 budget. Adeyemi also reportedly got approval to hire 300 staff and office space in the Federal Secretariat.
The OAGF says the council has no CBN account, contradicting the Presidency’s claim that Adeyemi used fake documents to open one. Police raided his family home in Ogbomoso and arrested his father and another.
Tinubu told the ICPC to probe 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.” He also asked the commission to check wider enabling circumstances and recommend fixes.
Senate spokesman Yemi Adaramodu said: “The allegations and counter-allegations over a fake agency and a fake Director-General are all within the executive, which should sort it out…”
Gbajabiamila’s lawyers called Adeyemi’s claims “not only false but gravely defamatory,” and gave a 72-hour ultimatum to retract or face a N10bn suit.
SERAP urged Parliament to reveal documents, saying: “Nobody has a more sacred obligation to obey the law than those who make the law.”
Atiku Abubakar said: “These are legitimate questions that deserve answers.”
