Senate Rejects Motion to Probe N1.3bn PFIPC Budget Amid Mounting Controversy

Senate Rejects Motion to Probe N1.3bn PFIPC Budget Amid Mounting Controversy 

 

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a motion seeking a comprehensive investigation into the controversial N1.3 billion budgetary allocation to the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), opting instead to allow the executive arm to conclude its ongoing probe into the matter.

The motion, sponsored by Suleiman Kawu (APC, Kano South), sought an urgent investigation into the budgetary allocation, operations and controversy surrounding the PFIPC, which has generated widespread public scrutiny over its inclusion in the 2026 Appropriation Act.

Raising a point of order under Order 9 and Rule 9(c) of the Senate Standing Orders (2026), Kawu argued that the controversy surrounding the council posed a direct threat to the integrity of the Senate, the credibility of the National Assembly and the legislature’s constitutional oversight and appropriation responsibilities.

Presenting the motion titled, “Urgent Need to Investigate the Budgetary Allocation, Operations, and Controversy Surrounding the Purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) to Safeguard the Integrity of the Senate and the Federal Government,” the lawmaker lamented that the public had been inundated in recent weeks with allegations, controversies, accusations and counter-accusations over the existence and activities of the council.

“The Senate notes with concern that, in recent weeks, the public space has been inundated with allegations, controversies, accusations and counter-accusations concerning an entity known as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC),” he said.

Kawu urged the Senate to condemn what he described as the administrative lapses, internal collaboration or fraudulent schemes that allegedly enabled a purportedly non-existent or unauthorised entity, listed under Budget Code 0111062001, to be captured in the 2026 Appropriation Act.

He further called on the Committees on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, and Appropriations to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the inclusion of the PFIPC in the national budget.

According to him, the probe should determine how the sum of N1,302,978,784 was proposed, scrutinised, justified and eventually approved; identify the ministries, departments and agencies, as well as public officials or other persons responsible for facilitating the council’s inclusion in the budget; and establish whether any funds had been released, committed or spent under the allocation, including whether any bank account had been opened or operated for the budget line.

However, after the motion was presented, the Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jibrin, who presided over plenary, ruled against opening a Senate investigation.

Jibrin said the matter was already receiving attention from the executive arm of government, noting that Bola Tinubu had directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate the controversy.

He urged the Senate to await the outcome of the executive’s investigation rather than commence a parallel legislative probe.