The Senate is expected to take up the controversy surrounding the ₦1.3 billion allocation to the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) in the 2026 Appropriation Act when plenary resumes on Tuesday.
The move comes after allegations that a forged appointment letter bearing the falsified signature of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, was used to obtain office space for Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, allowing the council to operate as a purported government agency for over a year.
Sources within the Presidency and the civil service told The PUNCH that lapses in due diligence by key government institutions, including the Budget Office, the House of Representatives and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, enabled the alleged fraud to go undetected.
According to the sources, proper verification of the appointment letter would have exposed the council’s lack of legitimacy before it engaged with diplomatic missions, government ministries, the National Assembly and private organisations.
A National Assembly source alleged that the council’s budget allocation found its way into the 2026 Appropriation Act through a “backdoor” process.
The source explained that the allocation was included alongside other submissions said to have originated from the Presidency, thereby bypassing the usual budget defence and oversight process.
The source added that the Senate leadership is expected to address the issue during Tuesday’s plenary to ease growing public concern and respond to allegations of possible complicity involving senior officials of the National Assembly.
Presidency officials also shed light on how the alleged forged appointment letter bypassed established bureaucratic procedures.
One official said the breakdown occurred at multiple levels, including the House of Representatives, the Budget Office and the Civil Service Headquarters, stressing that the forged appointment letter was at the heart of the problem.
The source explained that appointments to agencies under the Presidency are made exclusively by the President, while appointment letters are issued by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), not the Chief of Staff.
The official noted that all appointments under the Presidency follow a standard approval process involving the SGF and the President, while appointments under ministries go through the relevant minister and permanent secretary before presidential approval.
A senior civil servant familiar with the investigation said Adeyemi allegedly exploited weaknesses in the verification process by presenting a forged appointment letter carrying the Chief of Staff’s signature to request office accommodation.
According to the official, those handling the request should have recognised that the Chief of Staff has no constitutional authority to appoint a director-general, but the oversight allowed the request to succeed.
The allocation of office space at the Federal Secretariat subsequently gave the council an appearance of legitimacy, enabling it to receive visitors, operate with official letterheads and maintain a website without attracting immediate suspicion.
The office has since been sealed and reassigned following Adeyemi’s arrest, although the suspect reportedly continued operating from another location.
Another Presidency source disclosed that officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) first uncovered the alleged scheme after observing that the council was performing functions already assigned to the commission.
The matter, which initially appeared to be an inter-agency dispute, was reported to the Chief of Staff, who denied knowing Adeyemi and immediately alerted the Department of State Services (DSS).
The source said Gbajabiamila consistently maintained that he had never met the suspect and personally followed up on the case until Adeyemi was arraigned in court and later granted bail.
Although investigations began in October last year, another Presidency official said progress appeared to slow after the initial arrest, expressing surprise when the matter resurfaced publicly in June.
Another government official added that several civil servants had earlier raised concerns about the council, describing it as suspicious long before the controversy became public.
A third Presidency source also disclosed that investigators are examining how the council secured a budget allocation despite reportedly failing to undergo the standard budget defence process required of government agencies.
