The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) has disowned the claim that the disputed Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) opened an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

While responding to claims made by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-acclaimed Director-General of the PFIPC, the Presidency had said misled OAGF and opened a CBN account.

“The Police found that Adeyemi, using the fake documents he created, fraudulently opened a CBN account by misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. According to the police, no government money has been transferred into the account,” Bayo Onanuga, Presidential spokesman, had said in a statement, which exonerated Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to the President, of any wrongdoing in the saga.

But giving its own side of the issue, the OAGF said the council never completed the process required to operate a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) account.

He said that made it impossible for any government allocation to be paid into its coffers.

Director of Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, said an application to open the account was initiated after the council’s convener, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, presented “an appointment letter“ linked to an existing government agency.

He, however, said the process stalled because the names of authorised signatories were never submitted, preventing the account from becoming operational.

“The account has not seen the light of day. It has not received one kobo because it was never fully activated.

“The Accountant-General has not released any money because there is no operational account for such payment,” Mokwa said.

He added that while the council has a budgetary allocation, the existence of a provision in the Appropriation Act does not automatically translate into the release of funds.

The OAGF also dismissed claims that salaries had been paid to staff of the council.

Mokwa explained that federal agencies cannot recruit personnel or process salary payments without obtaining approvals from the Federal Character Commission, the Budget Office and the Federal Civil Service Commission before workers are enrolled on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.

“If an agency is granted a waiver to recruit, it must still obtain approvals from the relevant agencies before presenting staff details to the Accountant-General. Without those approvals, not even one employee can be captured on the payroll,” he said.

According to him, none of the statutory conditions has been fulfilled by the PFIPC.

He insisted that the council has neither an operational CBN account nor an approved payroll through which government funds or salaries could have been disbursed.

Daily Trust reports that the controversy surrounding PFIPC first came to public attention after the Presidency disowned the body, insisting that no such agency exists under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

It warned Nigerians against dealing with individuals claiming to represent it.

The Presidency subsequently said Adeyemi, who had presented himself as Director-General of the council, was standing trial on charges bordering on alleged forgery, impersonation and related offences.

According to the Presidency, the matter was uncovered in October 2025 after the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) raised concerns that the purported council was carrying out functions similar to those of the commission.

The Office of the Chief of Staff to the President thereafter petitioned security agencies, alleging that appointment letters, official documents and other materials purportedly issued in the name of the Presidency had been forged.

Investigators were said to have recovered documents during searches conducted after Adeyemi’s arrest, while the government maintained that the PFIPC was never legally created.

The issue, however, took a fresh twist after the 2026 Appropriation Act listed the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council under the Presidency with a budgetary allocation of about N1.3 billion for personnel, overhead and capital expenditure.

The inclusion triggered widespread questions from opposition figures, legal experts and civil society groups, who argued that the budgetary provision appeared inconsistent with the Presidency’s insistence that the council was fictitious.

The development has since shifted public attention beyond the criminal allegations against Adeyemi to broader concerns over Nigeria’s budgeting and administrative processes.

Critics have questioned how a body the Presidency describes as non-existent could appear in the federal budget, while also demanding explanations over reports that the council operated from the Federal Secretariat and interacted with several government institutions before it was disowned.

Calls for an independent probe into the circumstances surrounding the controversy have continued to mount. (Daily Trust)

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