A phantom body, the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), seemed to ride the bureaucratic train straight onto Nigeria’s national budget for 2026, where it lingered with a budget of about $950,000. The council, led by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, had offices in the Federal Secretariat, employed state civil servants and even held a website on the government’s official domain.
The council’s existence was eventually challenged by the presidency after it was discovered that no legal or presidential order ever created it. Dubbed a “fake” agency, the council’s only legitimacy was a forged appointment letter that claimed President Bola Tinubu had named Adeyemi as its director-general. The letter allegedly bore the with‑drawn signature of the president’s chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Adeyemi has denied the allegations, insisting that the council was lawfully set up in 2024 and that his appointment was genuine. He also accused senior officials of demanding bribes and later attempting to seize the council’s funds. After police issued a warrant, he went into hiding but has promised to appear in court later this month to face charges of forgery and impersonation.
Investigators are now probing how the council secured a government office, a staff roster and a line in the budget when nobody in the ordinary approval chain—secretary to the government, civil service head, accountant‑general, budget office or parliament—had approved such a body.
The case exposes how quickly a shadow organization can masquerade as a real institution in Nigeria, a country actively courting foreign investment that this council was meant to attract. In January 2026, the anti‑corruption commission began an inquiry and was ordered by President Tinubu to report within 30 days.
While some officials have denied any wrongdoing, the scandal has already demoerged into a nationwide reckoning over public procurement and the functioning of Nigeria’s expanding cadre of ministries and agencies. Politicians and lawyers alike are demanding an independent investigation into the roles of public officers who helped the phantom council appear.
For now, the case hinges on whether the “phantom” council was a fabrication built on forged documents and collusion, or whether some higher officials will be uncovered as complicit actors. The outcome could reshape Nigeria’s fight against corruption and hold accountable the system that inadvertently created a “fake” body with a real budget line.
Image from: Instagram / @princeadeyemi_adeniyi
