PFIPC Scandal: Tinubu Orders Forensic Probe as ICPC Uncovers Multiple Fake Agencies

PFIPC Scandal: Tinubu Orders Forensic Probe as ICPC Uncovers Multiple Fake Agencies

The Federal Executive Council has approved a comprehensive forensic investigation into government processes after the ICPC discovered at least two additional fictitious agencies operating within the federal system, with President Tinubu warning that fake agencies likely mean fake employees on the government payroll. President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday directed the commissioning of a forensic investigation into the processes, procedures, and internal control weaknesses that allowed fake government entities to operate undetected, following an update to the Federal Executive Council on the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) investigation into the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed that the ICPC’s findings revealed the fake council was not an isolated case, with at least two other fictitious agencies operating within the system, indicating a systemic weakness that allowed fraudulent entities to penetrate government structures. Oyedele explained that the investigation would establish what went wrong, how it can be prevented, and strengthen government systems moving forward, as the President directed that the review extend to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), warning that fake agencies likely mean fake employees somewhere within the federal payroll.

President Tinubu specifically ordered that the review extend to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), warning that fake agencies likely mean fake employees somewhere within the federal payroll. Oyedele stated that the government cannot afford to have fake people hanging around because it undermines the ability to pay civil servants well who are doing the hard work, disclosing that between N9.4 trillion and N9.5 trillion in subsidy savings and incremental revenue had gone into incremental payments of salaries and allowances to civil servants—an amount he said exceeded the actual savings accrued from subsidy removal, emphasizing that the government does not want to be further constrained by fake agencies and fake personnel.

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Oyedele revealed the extent of the fraud, explaining that the perpetrators managed to create a fake agency that secured office space within a federal government institution, a feat that required significant collusion and manipulation of government systems. He detailed that someone managed, with whatever people they colluded with, to create a fake agency that had an office within the institution of the Federal Government, and they managed to register and obtain an administrative code as well as a TSA code, with the only saving grace being that no money was actually paid to those accounts, though he acknowledged that the situation had gone too far to even get to that level. The ICPC Chairman, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, presented an interim report to President Tinubu revealing that Adeyemi also operates two other fake agencies and that the PFIPC was never established by any law, executive order or other valid instrument of government, adding that Adeyemi appropriated the identity of the defunct Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), illegally occupied its office, and used forged government documents to carry out the activities of the fake agency.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and the Finance Minister have been directed to work with other relevant government institutions to address the matter holistically, spanning its administrative, accounting, and governance dimensions, with professional audit firms to be engaged for a forensic, total evaluation of the system to plug the loopholes once and for all, according to Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris.

Mr Idris cautioned that the scandal likely predates the current administration, saying that this didn’t just happen now and that it is possible that this dates back longer than when the President was in office, adding that the President is not just looking at this but is also examining the possibility that this may also have occurred elsewhere, while trying to find a solution that will block this from recurring going forward.

The controversy emerged after Adeniyi Adeyemi presented himself as the Director-General of the PFIPC and the purported council operated from an office within the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, with questions subsequently raised during the probe by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee over how an organisation without a legal foundation was able to function as a government agency and gain access to official processes. The matter escalated after allegations that the council had been allocated about N1.3 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act, and Adeyemi also alleged that the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, demanded a 48 per cent share of a purported N27.3 billion take-off grant and received N400 million through a proxy. Mr Gbajabiamila has denied the allegations in a statement on oath, saying he had no personal, official, or professional relationship with Adeyemi, and also denied demanding or receiving money, abusing his office, or interfering with law enforcement investigations. The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, had earlier told the House committee that her office issued an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver after receiving what was purported to be the council’s establishment Act and the appointment letter of its Director-General, admitting that due diligence would have exposed the documents, and noting that an internal review triggered by the House investigation later revealed that they were fake.

PFIPC Scandal: Tinubu Orders Forensic Probe as ICPC Uncovers Multiple Fake Agencies