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Fresh controversy has erupted over the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) after a video of its self-acclaimed Director-General, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, resurfaced online, while signage directing visitors to the council’s purported office remains displayed at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
The latest development comes despite repeated assurances from the Presidency that the PFIPC was never established by the Federal Government and has no legal status.
The resurfaced video, recorded during a press briefing in late June, shows Adeyemi defending his claim to the leadership of the council and questioning the Presidency’s position, including statements from the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
In the video, Adeyemi argued that the agency’s appearance in official budget documents contradicts claims that it never existed.
“The national budget does not emerge in isolation. It passes through multiple layers of technical drafting, executive coordination, ministerial inputs, Budget Office review and legislative scrutiny,” he said.
He questioned how an agency described as non-existent by the Presidency could have appeared in official government records.
“At what point did references to a non-existent agency enter the official record? And if they are indeed contained in official documents, what does that say about the integrity of the process that produced and approved them?” he asked.
Adeyemi also claimed the council maintained several accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), including domiciliary, pound sterling and Treasury Single Account (TSA) accounts.
“The same agency described as non-existent has a domiciliary account, a pounds sterling account and a Treasury Single Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria. Is it even possible to open such accounts with fictitious documents, especially at the Central Bank?” he said.
He further alleged that Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila demanded 48 per cent of the council’s proposed ₦27.4 billion take-off grant, amounting to about ₦12.5 billion.
The Presidency has consistently rejected the allegations, maintaining that the PFIPC has no legal backing and was never created by the Federal Government.
According to the Office of the Chief of Staff, Adeyemi allegedly forged official documents, including appointment letters bearing the names and signatures of senior government officials, to portray himself as the Director-General of the purported council.
However, the controversy intensified on Monday after media reports emerged that the directional signage bearing the PFIPC name was still mounted inside the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, pointing visitors to an office located within a section occupied by the Federal Ministry of Health.
The continued presence of the signage has raised fresh questions about the alleged agency and added another layer to the growing ₦1.3 billion ghost agency controversy, as investigators continue to examine how a body the Presidency insists never existed appeared in official government records and operated publicly.
