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An executive branch of government is traditionally composed of the presidency, ministries, departments, agencies, and public service of the nation. The executive powers of the government are vested in the President and he may exercise them either directly or through the Vice-President and Ministers of the Government of the Federation or officers in the public service of the Federation. As the Chief Executive Officer of the country, he bears ultimate responsibility for any action taken by him or his subordinates.
Tinubu’s presidency is no stranger to controversies. Within few months of his inauguration, the Humanitarian Ministry became the cesspit of corruption. Out of about N3.2b budgeted for the humanitarian assistance of four states in Nigeria, only about N584m was earmarked to reach the four states. The balance of about N2.62b naira was shared to some companies as consultancy fees. These companies include companies owned by Tinubu’s ministers and cronies. The Humanitarian Minister even approved flight tickets from Abuja to Lokoja where the only flights that exist between these two cities must be the ones conducted by witches since Lokoja cannot boast of any commercial airport. The Humanitarian Minister was suspended and till date, the case was buried. Even the N584m that was made for the four states was already paid into a private account.
The scandals continued into the signing by President Tinubu of tax bills in which some provisions not approved by the National Assembly found their way into the bills. The provisions were forged and the government through the back door wangled the forged provisions out of the bills. Nobody was held accountable for this till date.
As usual, whenever an abomination lasts for more than one year, it becomes the custom. The abuses of governmental procedures have become the hallmark of Tinubu’s government and citizens have almost started becoming numb to them until the explosion of the scandal called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) by a letter of appointment purportedly and allegedly facilitated by the President’s Chief of Staff, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila.
It is believed that this agency was created under suspicious circumstances by some officials of government in which one Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew was put in as its Director General. The agency was allocated an office space at the Federal Secretariat of Nigeria allegedly by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation where genuine civil servants operate from. The Head of Service allocated about 314 personnel as civil servants to work in the agency. The Accountant General of the Federation allegedly provided the necessary documents to facilitate the opening of official bank accounts for the agency at the Central Bank of Nigeria. President Tinubu included the agency in the 2026 budget and allocated about N1.2b to it. The National Assembly approved the budgetary allocation to this agency. All in all, the agency received the recognition and approval from all the relevant governmental institutions it needed its approval to operate.
The nomenclature assigned by some governmental officials, particularly the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, that the agency is fictitious, fake, or non-existent cannot hold water. Also the allegation that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew is an impostor falls flat on its face when one examines the true definition of these terms. Being “fake” means presenting a false, inauthentic, or deceptive version of yourself to others. False generally describes something that is incorrect, not genuine, or designed to deceive. Fictitious means something that is not genuine, made up, or imagined. It is an adjective used to describe things that do not exist in reality, often created to conceal the truth or to deceive. An impostor (or imposter) is a person who assumes a false identity or pretends to be someone else in order to deceive others and gain a dishonest advantage.
Prince Adeniyi did not pretend to be someone else, so he cannot be described as an impostor. He claimed to be the DG of PFIPC, and no one else is claiming to be the original DG of PFIPC. He cannot be said to be claiming to be whom he is not. Fake implies the existence of the original elsewhere. For instance, one cannot see any fake N150 note because there is no original N150 note. The agency cannot be said to be fictitious, because it existed at the Federal Secretariat, CBN, the 2026 budget at pages 50 and 51, and the National Assembly.
The only contention now is the authenticity of the instrument of appointment. Legally speaking, an agent of a known principal can be instituted expressly in writing, orally, by conduct, or by ratification. Even if there was no written instrument of appointment known to the public, and the agency proceeded openly to act on behalf of the President without any positive action of the President to stop him, the President has ratified his actions, and the government is liable for his actions. The National Assembly, by approving the budget in the name of PFIPC, had ratified its actions. Prince Adeniyi openly visited the leadership of the National Assembly, and members of the diplomatic corps and took pictures with them. Facilitated the issuance of visas for his staff. Submitted the estimates of his expenditure for the 2026 financial year and received approval for it. These are satisfactory evidence of ratification of his agency by a disclosed principal. It is therefore out of place to use such profanities against him and his agency.
The only plausible deduction from the PFIPC debacle is that the agency was created by some corrupt officials of the Tinubu government to corruptly siphon the money of the Federation for their own personal selfish use. The only problem that resulted to the scandal is the disagreement on the sharing formula.
Prince Adeniyi puts it this way, “Now I want to put this out for clarity’s sake: the major rationale behind the disagreement between myself and the Chief of Staff is because he allegedly requested 48 per cent of the takeoff grant (N27, 395, 510,136 billion) from the same agency which he denies it exists to which I rejected. After he collected a total sum of N400 million by proxy with remaining balance of N200 Million as agreed to secure the said appointment he now denies.”
The implication of this allegation is that none of the participating individuals in this saga is a saint. The Prince allegedly procured the appointment through monetary inducement of the Chief of Staff. Bribery is an offence to both the giver and the taker of the bribe. The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation is culpable for allocating an office to the agency. The Accountant General of the Federation is culpable for facilitating the opening of accounts in the CBN. The CBN Governor is culpable for opening the accounts. The President is culpable for inserting the agency in his budget, while the National Assembly leaders are culpable for approving the budget. The entire presidency and the National Assembly are therefore responsible for this national and international embarrassment. If the presidency determines that the PFIPC is fake, then it is an indictment on itself that the Tinubu government is in itself fake, because all the actions of PFIPC were ratified by the presidency before the sharing formula broke down the relationship.
The initial response of the presidency on laying the entire blame on Prince Adeniyi was both hasty and ill-informed. The later response of the presidency to refer the matter to the Independent Corrupt practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for investigation is more like it. However, it will be preposterous for the presidency to institute such investigation into the matter while leaving all the powerful officials in the presidency to continue with their offices while the investigation is on. Certainly they will interfere, if not determine, the outcome of the investigation. They are expected to voluntarily step aside while the investigation is going on, or be removed by the President.
For the avoidance of doubt, removing them does not imply that they are guilty, but it is to allow unfettered investigation of the matter without fear or favour. During President Buhari’s regime, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, was involved in a grass cutting scandal and was asked to step aside by Buhari pending the investigation and trial of the matter. He was eventually vindicated by a court, which acquitted him at the stage of no case submission. President Tinubu should borrow a leaf and suspend all his officials who are suspected to be involved in this scam pending the investigation and trial of all of them. This is without prejudice that some of them may be discharged or acquitted in the process.
President Tinubu must realise that the optics of this scandal is damaging to Nigeria. The World Bank indicted his government that 40 per cent of the accrued revenue do not make it to the budget. Adeniyi alleged that almost 50 per cent of the budgeted amounts go back to corrupt officials of government as kickback. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) observed that about two per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on non-budgeted matters. These are heavy allegations of corruption against Tinubu’s government and only an honest investigation of them can begin the process of solving them, otherwise the claim of this administration that it is fighting corruption is a ruse.
