Inside the Fake Agency Scandal: Staff Detail How Adeyemi’s ‘Presidential Council’ Operated Without Work or Direction

Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi

Inside the Fake Agency Scandal: Staff Detail How Adeyemi’s ‘Presidential Council’ Operated Without Work or Direction

Fresh testimony from three senior civil servants reveals the inner workings of the disputed Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) — a phantom agency that allegedly secured N1.3 billion in the national budget and operated from the Federal Secretariat for months. At the centre of the storm is Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who is facing an eight-count charge of forgery and impersonation over claims he created a fake government agency, forged presidential appointment letters, and falsely presented himself as its Director-General. The Federal Government has distanced itself from the council, with the Presidency insisting no such body exists. But Adeyemi has denied all allegations, vowing to clear his name in court and publicly accusing Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, of corruption. Now, previously undisclosed testimonies from staff deployed to the council paint a stark picture of a “do‑nothing” office where civil servants were left idle and confused.

Three senior officials — Ojo Victor, 55, an Assistant Chief Accountant; Omeh Amarachukwu, 40, an internal auditor; and Wakili Saidu, 45, an audit officer — were deployed from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) to the PFIPC in August 2025. In statements to police investigators on November 10, 2025, they described a workplace that raised immediate red flags. According to court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES, Adeyemi had written to the Accountant-General on April 4, 2025, requesting staff to fill positions including Principal Accountant, Accountant I, and Principal Auditor. The request was approved, and the three officers were posted on August 28. But when they resumed work on September 8, they were given a shared open office and — startlingly — no assignments, no work schedules, and no formal documentation.

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Victor told investigators, “We are three officers posted at the same time, and when we resumed on 8 September, the three of us were given an open office that the three of us were sitting down without doing anything.” He added, “I have not been documented, and no schedule has been given to me since my assumption, which I find very strange.” Wakili Saidu reported, “Since then, there has been no correspondence between me and the DG.” With nothing to do, attendance dwindled. Victor said he went in once or twice a week “just to show our face.” Amarachukwu said he only reported once a week because “we have nothing doing.” Saidu went in three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. All three said they had never heard of the PFIPC before receiving their posting letters.

The scandal deepened when it emerged that the disputed council appears in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a N1,302,978,784 allocation. According to Daily Trust, the allocation appears on pages 50 and 51 of the budget, with N1,002,978,784 for recurrent expenditure and N300 million for capital projects. Budget line items include salary at N573,260,187, allowances and social contribution at N229,718,596, and logistics for hosting World Investment Summit 2026 at N182,500,000. The civic technology organisation BudgIT has called for an independent investigation, noting that the PFIPC did not appear as a budgeted entity in the 2023, 2024, or 2025 budgets, and asked how the agency got an office space at the Federal Secretariat and operated for over a year. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar also demanded answers, questioning who prepared the budget estimates bearing its name, which ministry submitted them, and which officials defended those estimates before the National Assembly.

The Presidency has strongly defended Gbajabiamila, stating that he was the one who first alerted security agencies to the alleged forgery. In a statement, Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga said the Chief of Staff petitioned the DSS and Police on October 17, 2025, after the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council complained about a rival body operating “at cross‑purposes” with it. Gbajabiamila wrote in his petition, “The attention of this office has been drawn to the activities of certain individuals and groups engaged in the forgery of official appointment letters purportedly issued from my office.” According to the Presidency, police investigations established that Adeyemi forged his appointment letter and official letterheads, operated 34 bank accounts including nine in the names of fictitious agencies, fraudulently opened a CBN account by misleading the OAGF, and solicited a Note Verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain US visas for staff. Onanuga noted that Adeyemi has a “history of fraudulent misrepresentation,” including a 2016 incident where he falsely claimed to be an “ambassador” for a UN‑affiliated group. Adeyemi, who is on police bail, is due in court on July 27.

The case is now before the Federal High Court in Abuja, and the political fallout continues. The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has called for Gbajabiamila’s suspension pending investigation. Meanwhile, BudgIT and Atiku are demanding a thorough probe into how the phantom agency secured a budget allocation. For now, the testimonies of three bewildered civil servants remain a powerful window into one of Nigeria’s most extraordinary governance scandals.