The Executive Director, #FixPolitics Africa, Anthony Ubani, has tasked President Bola Tinubu to explain to Nigerians how a non-existent agency entered the national budget under his administration.

In a statement, the leadership and governance expert lamented that scandals of such magnitude expose the naked incompetence of a government.

He stated: "There are scandals that embarrass a government. Then there are scandals that expose the naked incompetence of a government. The alleged fake presidential agency scandal belongs to the second category.”

Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew allegedly paraded himself as the Director-General of a body referred to as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, which is linked to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.

The Presidency reportedly described the agency as fictitious, said the appointment documents were forged, and stated that the man was never appointed by President Tinubu or the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.

According to him, the Presidency also said the police arrested Matthew in October 2025 and filed charges bordering on forgery and impersonation.

“Fine. Let the court decide his guilt or innocence. But Nigerians must not be distracted by the courtroom drama alone. The bigger scandal is not just what one man allegedly did. The bigger scandal is how far he allegedly travelled inside the machinery of the Nigerian state before the alarm became public.

“According to the Presidency’s account, this so-called agency operated from an office at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja. It allegedly hosted meetings with Nigerians and foreigners. It allegedly requested diplomatic support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for US visas. Police reportedly found 34 bank accounts linked to Adeyemi, including accounts opened in the names of alleged fictitious entities, and the Presidency says he fraudulently opened a Central Bank of Nigeria account by misleading the Office of the Accountant-General, although it also says no government money was transferred into that account,” he added.

Noting that the issue is not only whether money was eventually paid, Ubani wondered how the system allowed a disputed body to move close enough to public money, official space, diplomatic channels and government recognition for the scandal to exist at all.

“Even worse, reports show that the disputed agency appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act under the Presidency with a total allocation of N1,302,978,784, including about N802.98 million for personnel, N200 million for overhead and N300 million for capital projects.

“A national budget is not scribbled on the back of an envelope; it passes through offices, desks, memos, codes, reviews, committees, hearings, approvals and finally presidential assent. If an agency that the Presidency says does not exist can enter that process and emerge with N1.3 billion beside its name, then Nigeria is not dealing with a simple forgery case; it is dealing with a collapsed public finance system,” he added.

Ubani also charged the National Assembly to stop pretending to be spectators, but answer some pertinent questions, including: “Who inserted this item? Which committee reviewed it? Who defended the personnel cost? Who saw N802.98 million for salaries and did not ask where the staff were? Who approved overheads for a body now described as fictitious? Who approved capital expenditure for a ghost?

“If lawmakers can appropriate money to an agency whose existence is now being denied, then the legislature has failed in its most basic duty. It did not scrutinise. It did not verify. It did not protect the public purse. It behaved like a budget-passing factory.”

The expert did not spare the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, saying it also owes Nigerians an explanation.

He stated: "Federal appointments should have records. Agencies should have legal instruments. Directors-General should have appointment files. Official bodies should be traceable. If this agency was fake, every office that treated it as real must explain why.

“The Cable reported that the Federal Government granted the disputed council a waiver in August 2025 to recruit 300 staff, including directors, assistant directors, administrative officers, accountants, procurement officers, statisticians, legal officers, programme analysts and drivers. The reported letter was copied to the OSGF. That is not a small mistake. That is administrative incompetence.”

He charged the Tinubu administration not to respond to the matter with press releases, as it touches on the credibility of the Presidency, the Budget Office, the National Assembly, the SGF, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Accountant-General’s Office and the security agencies.

“Tinubu must answer. The National Assembly must answer. The SGF must answer. The Head of the Civil Service must answer. The Budget Office must answer. Until they do, Nigerians have every right to conclude that this government’s accountability system is not merely weak. It is badly broken or non-existent,” he added.

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