Fake presidential council in Nigeria got a budget of nearly $1 million
A fraudulent council in Nigeria operated with government offices, staff, and a budget line, despite having no legal basis. It was created using a forged appointment letter, and the director general faces charges while the government investigates how it happened.
The Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) appeared to be a legitimate government agency in Nigeria throughout 2025. It had an office in the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, career civil servants assigned to it, and even won approval to hire over 300 staff when recruitment was frozen. Its director general, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, met cabinet ministers, regulators, and foreign diplomats. The 2026 national budget allocated 1.3 billion naira ($950,000) to the council.
However, last month the government declared it was all a fiction. The presidency said the PFIPC had never been legally created—not by law, presidential order, or any official instrument. The only basis was a forged appointment letter that allegedly carried the signature of Femi Gbajabiamila, the president's chief of staff. Adeyemi denies forgery, insisting the council was lawfully set up in 2024 and that he was properly appointed. He has accused senior officials of demanding bribes and later trying to seize the council's funds. He is now in hiding, saying he fears for his life, but plans to appear in court on July 27 to answer charges including forgery and impersonation.
Investigators are probing how the agency managed to obtain government offices, staff, and a budget line. Experts say it must have involved connivance within the system. Oluseun Onigbinde of transparency group BudgIT noted that the PFIPC did not appear in budgets for 2023-2025 but surfaced fully formed in 2026 with its own budget code. He argues that a lone impostor could not have navigated all the required checks—office allocation, civil service sign-off, budget code, and bank account approval.
The government's account has shifted: first it said Adeyemi fraudulently opened a central bank account, then it said no money was released. President Bola Tinubu ordered the anti-corruption commission to investigate within 30 days. Critics call for an independent judicial inquiry. Police detained Adeyemi's elderly father in the search, then released him. The scandal highlights systemic issues in Nigeria's budgeting process, with the number of government agencies doubling to over 1,200 since 2012.
