The controversy surrounding the purported Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) deepened on Wednesday as the Senate rejected, for the second time in one week, a request to investigate the controversial budgetary allocation to the alleged agency, while former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Presidency traded accusations over how the matter should be probed.
The Nigeria Police Force on Tuesday arrested Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-styled Director-General of the alleged council, following a bench warrant issued by a Federal High Court in Abuja, after he failed to appear for his arraignment on an eight-count charge bordering on alleged conspiracy, forgery and impersonation following the widespread scandal.
Adeyemi is embroiled in a dispute with the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, after alleging that the presidential aide demanded a N400m bribe and sought 48 per cent of the agency’s proposed N27.4bn take-off grant.
President Bola Tinubu subsequently directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate the circumstances surrounding the purported agency and the controversial budgetary allocation, with the anti-graft agency expected to submit its findings within 30 days.
However, former Vice President Atiku called for an independent investigation into the controversy surrounding the scandal.
He also raised fresh questions over an alleged N6.44bn budgetary allocation for Nigeria’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign after the country had already been eliminated from the race.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, described the PFIPC scandal as a test of President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to transparency and accountability, alleging that the Federal Government was attempting to control the narrative surrounding the scandal instead of allowing an impartial investigation.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former VP argued that the controversy extended far beyond the alleged activities of the self-acclaimed Director-General of the PFIPC, Adeniyi Adeyemi.
According to Atiku, the more fundamental questions are how an organisation now reportedly described by the Presidency as non-existent gained access to the highest levels of government, allegedly secured office accommodation within the Federal Secretariat, recruited hundreds of personnel, obtained diplomatic recognition and was reportedly allocated public funds.
“The scandal is not merely that one man allegedly impersonated public authority. The greater scandal is that the Tinubu administration allegedly opened the doors of the Nigerian state to him, allowed him to acquire the appearance and privileges of official legitimacy and permitted him to interact with institutions and diplomatic interests in the name of the Federal Government,” Atiku said.
The former Vice President also linked the controversy to what he described as questionable expenditures contained in the 2026 Appropriation Act, drawing particular attention to a N6.44bn allocation for a “Special Presidential Support Group for the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.”
He questioned the rationale behind the expenditure, noting that Nigeria had already failed to qualify for the tournament months before the budget was presented to the National Assembly.
“How does a serious government budget N6.44bn for presidential support for World Cup qualifiers after the country had already been eliminated? What competition was the money intended to support? Who inserted the provision, who approved it and who was expected to benefit from an expenditure whose stated purpose had already ceased to exist?” he queried.
The ADC chieftain described the allocation as evidence of deeper problems in Nigeria’s budgeting process.
“It reinforces public suspicion that the national budget has become a warehouse for dubious expenditures, fiscal waste and allocations without any defensible public purpose,” he added.
The Wazirin Adamawa also expressed concern over the recent arrest of Adeniyi Adeyemi, alleging that it could be used to divert attention from the broader issues raised by the scandal.
Adeyemi has been accused of forgery, impersonation and obtaining money by false pretences. He has also publicly alleged that he paid about N400m in bribes to secure his appointment and mentioned senior government officials, including the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Atiku, however, stressed that those allegations remain unproven and should be subjected to an impartial investigation.
“The probe ordered by President Tinubu and assigned to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission is insufficient, self-serving and incapable of inspiring public confidence in the government’s claim of innocence,” he stressed.
He warned against what he described as any attempt to manipulate the outcome of the investigation.
“A compromised process in which the government interrogates suspects in secrecy, suppresses inconvenient facts and later emerges with a contrived narrative blaming the opposition would be a pathetic assault on truth and a further demolition of the credibility of the Tinubu administration,” he added.
That said, Atiku called on the National Assembly to constitute an independent bipartisan investigative panel to examine every aspect of the PFIPC controversy.
He also urged the Nigerian Bar Association, civil society organisations and the diplomatic community to insist on a transparent investigation.
“We therefore call on the National Assembly to immediately constitute an independent bipartisan panel to investigate every aspect of the PFIPC scandal,” he proposed.
“Nigerians deserve to know who authorised the PFIPC, who facilitated its access to public institutions, who secured its office accommodation, who obtained diplomatic recognition for it, who inserted funds for it in the national budget and who benefited from its operations. Nigerians deserve the truth — not another carefully scripted public relations exercise,” the statement further read.
Reacting to Atiku’s demand, the Presidency on Wednesday said the Tinubu-ordered ICPC investigation into the scandal was the only independent probe required to unravel the case.
It challenged Atiku to explain what kind of country he intended to preside over if he already distrusted the institutions of the Nigerian state.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Temitope Ajayi, responded to Atiku’s latest statement on the matter, while speaking to The PUNCH on Wednesday.
Ajayi said the former Vice President’s persistent rejection of an ICPC-led probe raised deeper questions about his suitability for the presidency than about the government’s handling of the controversy.
He said, “Under Nigerian law, what other independent probe can be done other than the one that the ICPC is currently doing as directed by the President?
“The ICPC has been mandated to investigate corrupt practices because we believe in its mandate. The President has said that they should take it over.”
Ajayi questioned Atiku’s stated distrust of the process, saying, “Is he saying that he doesn’t trust the institution of state?
“He wants to become President of Nigeria. So, if he ever becomes President of Nigeria, is he going to ignore institutions.
The Senate, while declining calls for a probe, insisted that the matter was already before the courts and under investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
The controversy, which has dominated public discourse for over two weeks, centres on a purported federal agency that allegedly secured a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act despite the Presidency maintaining that no such agency existed.
The renewed request was brought before the Senate by the lawmaker representing Kano South Senatorial District, Senator Suleiman Kawu, who had made a similar attempt last week without success.
Kawu again sought to have the upper chamber investigate how the budgetary provision was included in the 2026 budget, but the Senate declined.
Ruling on the request, President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, said the National Assembly could not investigate a matter already before a court of competent jurisdiction.
Akpabio also noted that President Bola Tinubu had directed the ICPC to investigate the controversy within 30 days, making a separate Senate probe unnecessary at this stage.
He said, “In my view, the issue has been overtaken by events, as the culprit has been charged to court. It is now sub judice to attempt to go into it again. Mr President has already directed an investigation.
“If we go into it now, we will probably be jumping the gun.”
Last week, Kawu had argued that the Senate had a constitutional responsibility to scrutinise how the controversial allocation found its way into the national budget, irrespective of the executive’s investigation.
He had said, “I commend Mr President. But he can’t do our work. We, as the National Assembly, are supposed to conduct our own investigation. My concern is about the budget.
“Who came to the National Assembly to defend the agency?”
His request was, however, rejected.
Following the Senate’s decision last week, the lawmaker told journalists that his concern was not about whether the agency existed but about safeguarding the integrity of the National Assembly’s appropriation process and establishing how the N1.3bn allocation was approved.
On Wednesday, he again attempted to raise the issue under Matters of Urgent Public Importance, but senators maintained their earlier position and declined to entertain the motion.
The scandal deepened after Tuesday’s arrest of Adeyemi, who now faces allegations including forgery, impersonation and obtaining money under false pretenses.
However, opposition figures, including Atiku, have argued that only an independent probe outside the executive arm of government can command public confidence, given that senior officials have been mentioned in the controversy.
Despite this, the 2026 Appropriation Act contains a N1.3bn provision for the purported agency covering both recurrent and capital expenditure.
The Federal Government has since filed criminal charges against Adeyemi over alleged impersonation and related offences.
Adeyemi-police battle
Fresh details emerged on Wednesday on how Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man at the centre of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council saga, evaded arrest by security agencies for weeks before he was eventually apprehended on Tuesday.
Multiple security sources who spoke with The PUNCH on how Adeyemi was eventually captured said he was arrested about five days after arriving in Osun State, at a location reportedly close to Ilesa.
A source familiar with the operation said operatives of the Intelligence Response Team, led by CSP Moses Lohor, trailed Adeyemi for about five days before moving in to arrest him.
The source explained that although Adeyemi was already on the IRT watchlist, the team that eventually arrested him had initially been deployed to Osun State for another assignment.
“The team that arrested him was in Osun for another assignment, though Adeyemi was on the watchlist of the IRT. The team was in Osun like other deployments made by the Inspector-General of Police following the killings that occurred in the state in recent weeks.
“A lot of riot police operatives were deployed to Osun in the last three weeks. Many tactical teams and IRT squads were also deployed to various locations across the state.
“But Adeyemi unknowingly walked into the security dragnet when he moved to Osun about last weekend,” the source said.
The source added that Adeyemi had previously been in Ibadan, Oyo State, where operatives of the Department of State Services tracked him but were unable to arrest him.
“While he was in Ibadan, DSS operatives trailed him but could not arrest him. They continued monitoring him until they eventually withdrew towards the end of last week.
“However, the IRT team that arrested him had already been in Osun before Adeyemi arrived. Since he was on the watchlist, they were able to confirm his location after about five days of close monitoring and moved in,” the source added.
The source said Adeyemi was arrested near Ilesa after the IRT team briefed the Osun State Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Gotan, before carrying out the operation.
The team also reportedly informed the commissioner after the arrest on Tuesday.
The source said the operatives avoided taking Adeyemi to the Osun State Police Command headquarters in Osogbo to prevent attracting public attention, adding that he was moved to Ibadan before being transferred to Abuja.
The source, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the operation, said the arrest was carried out discreetly to ensure the success of the operation.
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