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The raging controversy over the unreal Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) that has an office at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja and was allocated N1.3billion in the 2026 budget is bizarre, revealing and mind-boggling. The scandal has hugged the headlines and is still dominating the national discourse. So many questions are being raised. The answers coming from the government are not satisfactory enough. The government responses have been tepid and lacking in poise and clarity. The more the government explains this Nigerian version of dark drama, the more the confusion.
At the centre of the drama is one Prince Matthew Adeniyi Adeyemi who is reportedly the Director-General of the PFIPC. In the ongoing controversy over the so-called fake agency, the names of some government officials, including the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and others have been profusely mentioned. Despite the accusations and counter-accusations between the government side and the estranged DG of the fictitious agency, Nigerians are eager to hear more from the unfolding drama.
The allegations of offering N400million as part of the agreed N600million for the appointment as the DG of the agency is too weighty to be waved aside. There is still a balance of N200million to be paid. Although this allegation of bribery has been debunked, the matter is yet to go away. More confounding is the very fact that the fake agency has a budget allocation of N1.3billion in the 2026 budget. The fake agency has government’s approval to hire 300 workers. There is another allegation of a cut of 48% from the fake agency’s take-off grant of N22.4billion. There are so many things to uncover in this saga.
It is known that our problem is not having money; it is how to spend it on worthy causes. It is like our new problem is having too much money. When somebody has too much money, he will be spending it on frivolities. We are like the prodigal son in the Bible. This is perhaps the tragedy of Nigeria, the giant of Africa. Plenty money from crude oil sales has not transformed Nigeria into an industrial giant. It has not significantly improved the life of Nigerians. If there was budgetary due diligence, may be the fake agency would not have been allocated a whopping N1.3billion in the national budget. Moreover, the fake agency has CBN accounts.
Adeyemi claimed that he got appointment letter from the government, which the officials of the government have swiftly and stoutly denied. Adeyemi took pictures with top government officials and hosted some foreign dignitaries and was around the government before he was discovered to be running a fake agency and as a con man or con artist in government circles. Perhaps there may be some other Adeyemis or his clones in government.
If this scandal were to be in other countries where the fight against graft is waged with seriousness, many heads would have rolled since this matter became public knowledge. Adeyemi would not have gone this far before the bubble burst. Adeyemi is not a superman with enormous powers to have done what they ascribe to him without any accomplice(s). The Adeyemi saga or the fake agency saga is becoming stranger than fiction. It is like tales by moonlight.
Critics of this administration, including opposition political leaders, have condemned the scandal and called for an independent public probe of the matter. They believe that only an independent investigation panel would be in a better position to unravel what truly transpired between Adeyemi and others mentioned in the saga. This matter should not be treated as a family affair. It should also not be swept under the carpet. They also called on Gbajabiamila to step aside pending the conclusion of the investigation. This is in line with global best practices and will enhance the integrity of the investigation.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has finally waded into the embarrassing matter and tasked the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the activities of the PFIPC and all related matters. The President ordered the ICPC to investigate, among others, the forged appointment letters and other official government documents; the use of a false claim of presidential appointment to seek or obtain official recognition and diplomatic support, including visa facilitation, and the opening of multiple accounts.
Tinubu also directed the ICPC to investigate not only the conduct of the principal individual and other collaborators involved but also the wider circumstances that may have enabled the fictitious body and a false claim of presidential appointment to acquire an appearance of an official legitimacy. The President also urged the Commission to identify any weaknesses in government and institutional procedures that may have been exploited and to recommend immediate measures to prevent the recurrence of similar abuses.
The President’s response, although belated, is better than nothing. However, ICPC should do a better job in this assignment. It should not be business as usual. The issue at stake is serious and of national importance. The investigation should be handled with thoroughness, great dispatch and with a great sense of responsibility. Let the Commission be fair, transparent, bold and fearless in carrying out the onerous duty. All parties involved in the matter should be given fair hearing and equal treatment. There should be no harassment or intimidation of those involved. Their safety must be guaranteed.
Going forward, we need to overhaul our governance system and make it more open. Our governance system must not encourage opacity. It should also not encourage mediocrity or nepotism. The cabal culture should not be part of our governance system. There must be conversations on how to make governance and government institutions more open and transparent.
If our governance model is not shrouded in secrecy, it would be near impossible to have a brazen case of Adeyemi saga in our midst. The fake agency is the fruit we are reaping from our secrecy in official matters. Perhaps Adeyemi is a symptom of our failed governance system. It is also a symptom of our diseased system and not the disease itself. The corruption virus or cancer is still within the system, one administration after another.
Corruption in official circles is real. It is virulent and mutating with each administration. It didn’t start today. We are yet to get leaders who would think more for Nigeria and less for themselves. The Adeyemi episode can be traced to our penchant to care more for self rather than the people. Until our governance is people-centred and altruistic, the more the system will throw up more Adeyemis of this world. Above all, let the ICPC prove skeptics wrong and show that a government panel can truly investigate a matter of this magnitude and do it very well.
