Adeyemi Challenges Federal Government, Questions How 'Fake' Council Secured N1.3 Billion National Budget Line

The unfolding political scandal surrounding the disputed Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) has escalated into a fierce media standoff, as its self-parading Director-General, Prince Mathew Adeniyi Adeyemi, challenged the Federal Government to explain how a "fake" agency could successfully secure a massive N1.302 billion line item in the 2026 national budget.

The development follows aggressive assertions from the Presidency labeling Adeyemi a sophisticated con artist who forged his appointment letters and ran a fraudulent institutional ring out of the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.

Adeyemi, who is currently out on bail ahead of an eight-count criminal arraignment by the Nigeria Police, has fiercely pushed back against the state's narrative. He argued that it is structurally impossible for a fictitious, one-man operation to bypass the rigorous multi-layered scrutiny of the federal budgeting process.

Public records verifying the 2026 Federal Government Budget reveal that an entity listed as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council was indeed formally allocated a total of N1,302,235,178. The funding layout specifically earmarks:

• N826.9 million for personnel costs and staff salaries.
• N111.4 million for overheads and daily operational running.
• N363.8 million for capital expenditures.

Adeyemi questioned how the Budget Office of the Federation, the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, and the National Assembly could all thoroughly vet, approve, and pass a budget for an agency that the Presidency now claims does not exist. He further pointed out that the council successfully opened and operated an official account directly within the automated systems of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Adeyemi maintained that his legal appointment was formally processed through the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, via official correspondence, though he clarified he never held an in-person, face-to-face meeting with Gbajabiamila himself.

He reiterated his previous explosive defense, claiming that the Presidency only moved to disown and dismantle the council after he staunchly rejected an aggressive demand by political intermediaries to surrender a 48% kickback from the agency’s approved N500 million take-off grant directly to the Chief of Staff.

The Presidency, through spokesperson Bayo Onanuga, has completely dismissed Adeyemi's claims as the desperate fabrications of a cornered fraudster. The government asserts that an unnamed insider intermediary who allegedly helped manipulate the paperwork to slip the council into the national budget died mysteriously in an Abuja hotel fire shortly before security agencies cracked down on the operation.

The Nigeria Police Force has filed charges bordering on forgery, criminal impersonation, and obtaining by false pretense against Adeyemi at the Federal High Court in Abuja, with formal arraignment set for July 27, 2026. However, opposition groups, including the Kwankwasiyya Movement, have joined the fray, demanding a comprehensive, independent legislative probe into how easily Nigeria's national budget and central bank systems were breached by a allegedly fraudulent operation.