Senate to Address N1.3bn Fake Agency Budget Scandal Tuesday
The Senate is expected to address the controversy surrounding the N1.3 billion allocation to the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) when plenary resumes on Tuesday, amid fresh revelations that a forged appointment letter allegedly enabled the organisation to operate as a government agency for more than a year.
Findings revealed that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew allegedly used a forged appointment letter bearing the falsified signature of the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, to secure office accommodation at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja. Presidency and civil service sources said the document was accepted without proper verification, allowing the council to gain the appearance of official government recognition.
Multiple sources familiar with the matter blamed the scandal on failures across the Budget Office, the House of Representatives and the Civil Service Headquarters, saying established bureaucratic safeguards were ignored. They added that the fake appointment letter became the foundation upon which the council secured legitimacy and eventually found its way into the 2026 Appropriation Act.
A National Assembly source disclosed that the N1.3 billion allocation was approved without any representative of the council appearing before the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service to defend the budget. According to the source, the provision was inserted alongside other Presidency-related allocations and escaped independent scrutiny, adding that the Senate leadership would address the controversy when lawmakers reconvene.
Presidency officials explained that the alleged fraud violated the constitutional procedure for federal appointments, stressing that only the President makes such appointments through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, not the Chief of Staff. They maintained that officials who processed the forged document should have recognised that the Chief of Staff lacked the authority to issue such appointments.
A senior civil servant said the allocation of office space at the Federal Secretariat gave the council instant credibility, enabling it to receive visitors, operate with official letterheads and maintain a website. Another Presidency source revealed that the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission first raised the alarm after discovering that the council was encroaching on its statutory responsibilities, prompting the Chief of Staff to alert security agencies.
Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and the Human and Environmental Development Agenda have demanded full disclosure of all documents relating to the controversial budget allocation. Both organisations called for a public investigation to establish how a non-existent agency secured a place in the national budget and whether any public funds had already been released.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar also criticised the Tinubu administration over the controversy, describing the incident as evidence of a troubling pattern of governance. He urged President Bola Tinubu to order an independent investigation and publicly identify those responsible for creating and funding what he described as a phantom organisation.
The Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights and the Kwankwasiyya Movement similarly demanded a comprehensive probe, insisting that the scandal exposed serious institutional failures. However, the Deputy Spokesman of the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, urged Nigerians to allow the courts determine the matter.
Senior lawyers who commented on the controversy called for due process, with some dismissing demands that Gbajabiamila be charged without evidence, while others insisted that all public officials who allegedly facilitated the scheme should be investigated.
Adeyemi is expected to appear before the Federal High Court in Abuja on July 27 alongside two alleged accomplices, identified only as Femi and Anu, who remain at large.