By Kingston Magare 2.7.2026
The controversy swirling around the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council PFIPC is refusing to go away. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called out the President Bola Tinubu administration for covering up a “scandalous corruption.”
Chief of Staff to President Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila and PFIPC director general Adeniyi Adeyemi have been engaged in a verbal war of accusations and counter accusations over an alleged N400m bribe paid to Gbajabiamila by Adeyemi to facilitate his appointment.
While Gbajabiamila a former National House of Assembly speaker denied ever collecting such an amount of money and also claiming that PFIPC does not exist as a government agency, Mr. Adeyemi provided evidence of budgetary allocations and approvals by the National Assembly.
On Wednesday President Tinubu’s information and strategy adviser Bayo Onanuga, denied that Gbajabiamila was responsible for the employment of Mr. Adeyemi. He is currently facing impersonation and forgery charges at a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Reacting to the unfolding drama Africa Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku said the government has indicted itself of corruption and an independent enquiry must be set up to investigate Mr. Gbajabiamila and Mr. Adeyemi.
“What the presidency intended as damage control has become self-indictment. Rather than extinguish the fire, it has illuminated how deeply the flames have consumed the foundations of governance,” said Atiku in a statement signed by his media aide Phrank Shaibu.
“The Presidency now wants Nigerians to believe that one private citizen single-handedly forged presidential documents; impersonated senior government officials; established an office inside the Federal Secretariat; allegedly opened dozens of bank accounts—including accounts bearing government identities; hosted foreign ambassadors without diplomatic clearance; secured official recognition across several government circles; and all but embedded a phantom agency into the machinery of government without a single insider aiding him. That explanation demands far greater faith than the scandal itself.
“Even more troubling is the glaring contradiction that the presidency has failed to explain.
“On one hand, it insists that the PFIPC never existed and was nothing more than an elaborate scam. On the other hand, public records reportedly reveal that approximately N1.3 billion was appropriated for that very council in the 2026 Appropriation Act, listed alongside the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
“This contradiction is too monumental to ignore.
“If the agency was fictitious, who prepared the budget estimates bearing its name? Which ministry submitted them? Which officials defended those estimates before the National Assembly? Which committees scrutinized them? Which lawmakers approved them? Who inserted the allocation into the appropriation bill? And ultimately, who signed that budget into law?
He said the National Assembly needed to tell Nigerians how billions were allocated to a government agency that does not exist.
“The National Assembly stands thoroughly exposed. Billions of naira allegedly found their way into the national budget for an agency the Presidency now claims never existed, yet lawmakers neither detected the anomaly nor demanded explanations. That is not oversight; it is legislative abdication.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria cannot escape scrutiny either. Nigerians deserve to know how an alleged fictitious agency reportedly navigated financial processes that ordinary businesses struggle to complete. If regulatory safeguards exist only on paper, then the integrity of our financial institutions is itself under serious question.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has also been exposed by its selective zeal. An agency established to combat corruption appears increasingly consumed with pursuing opposition figures while exhibiting remarkable hesitation whenever allegations point towards the corridors of power. Anti-corruption loses all credibility when it becomes selective prosecution.
“We therefore demand a truly independent investigation that follows the evidence wherever it leads. No sacred cows. No political protection. No selective justice,” he stated.
