The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has ordered a forensic audit of federal ministries, departments and agencies to determine how Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the purported director-general of the fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), was able to establish the agency.
President Bola Tinubu had, on July 7, 2026, given the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) 30 days to investigate the controversy surrounding the fake agency and submit its report within the stipulated time frame.
However, barely 30 days later, the Chairman of the ICPC, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, presented an interim report to President Tinubu.
Aliyu further reviewed that apart from the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, Mr Adeyemi also operates two other fake agencies.
Aliyu added that the council “was never established by any law, executive order or other valid instrument of government.”
He said 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.
It would be recalled that while appearing before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee that investigated the PFIPC, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation had acknowledged granting official administrative approvals to the ‘phantom’ council based on documents allegedly later found to be forged.
On July 29, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, 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.
She, however, admitted due diligence would have exposed the documents, noting that an internal review triggered by the House investigation later revealed that they were fake.
Addressing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the audit is expected to look into “our processes, our procedures, internal control weaknesses, that allow some of these things to happen, because the findings discovered that we indeed have additional fake agencies.”
He said the forensic audit is expected to establish what went wrong, “how it can be prevented, and going forward, how we can make our systems stronger. I think this is good, because systems are built; when you find problems, you deal with them decisively.”
He said the decision was arrived at after President Tinubu briefed the council on the situation and the outcome of the interim report by the ICPC.
He said the government was worried about how Adeyemi and those who might have enabled him succeeded in their act, adding that the Federal Government was committed to ending such developments.
The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, had issued a disclaimer, dismissing the existence of the PFIPC, but Adeyemi countered, describing it as “a cloud of public misrepresentation, institutional denial and a deliberate attempt to silence legitimate questions that concern matters of national interest.”
Meanwhile, the minister also disclosed that FEC approved a US$1.25 billion financing facility from the International Development Association and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, in support of Nigeria’s action for investment and job acceleration development policy financing.
He said the loan is a “concessional facility, with repayments of 30 years, which will help to accelerate job creation.
The Minister further said FEC approved the signing of double taxation avoidance treaty between Nigeria and Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania and between Nigeria and Switzerland.
According to him, the overall objective of the treaty is to ensure that Nigeria can expand the opportunities available to businesses “to invest in other countries and also for us to attract investment from those other countries, particularly where we have a lot of interest between our countries.”
Daily Trust
