• Adeyemi, two others to face forgery, impersonation charges
• Rights advocate urges ICPC to resist pressure, follow evidence
• Kawu insists Senate must answer questions over budget approval
• Tinubu’s aide proposes reforms to prevent repeat
• Archbishop links controversy to entrenched corruption
• Ex-lawmaker defends Gbajabiamila, backs due process

The controversy surrounding the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) entered a new phase yesterday as police prepared to arraign its self-acclaimed Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi, amid mounting calls for an independent anti-corruption probe, stronger legislative oversight and sweeping institutional reforms.

The fresh developments came from multiple quarters, including civil society groups, the National Assembly, the Anglican Church, the Presidency and the opposition, reflecting growing concern over the implications of the controversy for public finance, governance and institutional integrity.

The police will tomorrow arraign Adeyemi and two others before the Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged forgery, impersonation and other offences.

In a fresh charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/562/2025, the police filed an eight-count charge against the defendants on November 27, 2025. The charge was filed by police prosecutor Wisdom Madaki.

The case was initially scheduled for June 16, but Adeyemi was said to be indisposed when the matter came up for arraignment. Justice Mohammed Umar subsequently adjourned the proceedings.

According to the court documents, the prosecution has listed the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, Paul Emmanuel, Jeremiah Imoukhede and Ituah Sylvester as witnesses.

Also listed are civil servants in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Akimbo Shola and Adamu Balongu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police.

Other witnesses include Ojo Victor, Omeh Amarachukwu and Wakili Saidu, who were allegedly posted to work with Adeyemi at the non-existent agency, as well as Joy Ngwoke, owner of Kachi Hotel in Abuja, and Ven Okoriko of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, Maitama.

The prosecution is also expected to tender documentary evidence, including the police investigation report, a petition by Gbajabiamila dated October 17, 2025, and an alleged fake presidential appointment letter dated March 8, 2024.

Other documents listed include Adeyemi’s request for a note verbale sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, approvals allegedly obtained to open accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), a request for self-accounting submitted to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, and documents conveying approval for the take-off of the PFIPC.

The prosecution also listed a request for collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on land acquisition and office spaces across the 36 states, statements obtained from witnesses and the defendants, and photographs.

According to the court documents, “the prosecution shall at the trial call any other related witness or witnesses to prove its case.”

Rights advocate urges ICPC boss to resist pressure, probe without fear
THIS came as the Executive Director of Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER), Wale Adeoye, urged the Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, to conduct a thorough, impartial and fearless investigation into the controversy surrounding the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), insisting that the anti-graft agency must not succumb to political pressure or external influence.

Adeoye said the ICPC chairman must demonstrate the courage and independence expected of the nation’s foremost anti-corruption agency by ensuring that every allegation connected with the purported council, including those in which the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, has been mentioned, is investigated strictly on the basis of evidence.

His position came as a former member of the House of Representatives, Lanre Odubote, who served alongside Gbajabiamila in the National Assembly and represented Epe Federal Constituency on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), rose in defence of the President’s Chief of Staff, describing the allegations made by the self-acclaimed Director-General of the PFIPC, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, as a calculated attempt to tarnish Gbajabiamila’s reputation.

While Odubote maintained that the ICPC should diligently execute the directive given by President Bola Tinubu to investigate the matter, he disagreed with Adeoye’s position that the President ought to have withheld Gbajabiamila’s appointment to the committee on state police pending the conclusion of the investigation.

Speaking separately to The Guardian, Adeoye argued that it was premature for Nigerians to dismiss the ICPC’s ability to conduct an independent investigation simply because the matter involves officials serving in the current administration.

He said the widespread claim that “a government cannot investigate itself” should not become a basis for discrediting the anti-corruption agency before it concludes its assignment.

According to him, the institutional framework establishing the ICPC guarantees a measure of operational independence, noting that neither the Chief of Staff, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), nor members of the National Assembly sit on the commission’s governing board or have constitutional powers to dictate the outcome of its investigations.

Adeoye, however, expressed reservations over President Tinubu’s recent appointment of Gbajabiamila to the committee on state police while his name remains linked, rightly or wrongly, to the ongoing controversy.

“It is always advisable to avoid actions that could create unnecessary public perception issues,” he explained.

The rights activist also questioned the confidence with which Adeyemi has continued to make public allegations, wondering whether the self-acclaimed PFIPC Director-General enjoys backing from influential interests.

“The question is: where is he deriving that confidence from? Is he acting alone, or does he enjoy support from somewhere? These are questions that investigators and the media should be asking.

“This is why the ICPC, alongside the media, must dig deeper instead of limiting attention to personalities. Nigerians deserve to know the full circumstances surrounding the emergence of the purported council and the individuals or institutions behind it,” he added.

Adeoye further called on the ICPC, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the media to subject the national budget and government institutions to more rigorous scrutiny, arguing that proactive oversight would help expose irregularities before they develop into major national controversies.

According to him, persistent investigative scrutiny of public expenditure and government agencies remains one of the most effective ways to prevent the abuse of public trust.

“If the ICPC, the EFCC and the media consistently subject the national budget and public institutions to rigorous scrutiny, many of these controversies would either never arise or would be detected much earlier. The PFIPC saga underscores the need for stronger institutional vigilance and more proactive investigative journalism,” he said.

Responding, Odubote maintained that while no individual should be shielded from investigation, many Nigerians have overlooked what he described as glaring inconsistencies in Adeyemi’s allegations.

He argued that one of the most fundamental contradictions in the claims against the Chief of Staff is Adeyemi’s admission that he had never met Gbajabiamila personally.

“If someone openly admits that he has never met the Chief of Staff in his life, Nigerians should naturally interrogate how he arrived at some of the allegations he has continued to make. That is one of the gaps that people have not paid sufficient attention to,” Odubote said.

He nevertheless stressed that allowing the ICPC to complete its investigation remains the most credible path to establishing the facts, insisting that public opinion and media narratives should not replace due process.

I’m not afraid of suspension over PFIPC motion, says Kawu Sumaila
MEANWHILE, the senator representing Kano South, Kawu Sumaila, has said he is not afraid of being suspended after the Senate rejected his motion seeking an investigation into alleged budget irregularities involving the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.

Speaking with journalists after the motion was turned down, Sumaila said his concern was not the creation of the agency but its inclusion in the national budget without what he described as proper legislative scrutiny.

According to him, while the President has the constitutional power to establish agencies, the National Assembly is responsible for scrutinising and approving budgetary allocations.

Reiterating his position at the weekend, the lawmaker said: “My main concern is the budget. Mr President can constitute or create an agency without the approval of the National Assembly. Constitutionally, he is empowered to do so. Therefore, I am not more concerned about that one.

“What we are concerned about is who legalised the inclusion or who facilitated the inclusion of that agency in the national budget, which is our constitutional responsibility. Who came and defended that budget? Who is responsible in the National Assembly?”

Responding to calls for his suspension over the motion, Sumaila dismissed the threat, saying he was prepared to face any consequences.

“I don’t know why you’re calling for suspension. Suspend who? What is suspension? I can live without the Senate. He is doing his work; I am doing my own.

“I am a representative of the people, and I’ve said in my message that if the Senate decides, I am okay. If not, the main thing is that, as the National Assembly, we must talk because the National Assembly is part of the problem and the President cannot do our work,” he said.

The Senate last Wednesday rejected a motion seeking a comprehensive investigation into the budgetary allocation, operations and controversy surrounding the PFIPC.

The motion, titled Urgent Need to Investigate the Budgetary Allocation, Operations, and Controversy Surrounding the Purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council to Safeguard the Integrity of the Senate and the Federal Government, was moved by Sumaila under Order 9 and Rule 9(c) of the Senate Standing Orders (2026).

The senator argued that a probe was necessary to protect the credibility of both the National Assembly and the Federal Government.

Tinubu’s aide lists needed reforms to prevent repeat
LISTING reforms that must be undertaken to prevent the kind of ongoing saga, a senior aide of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Tunde Rahman, said: “Arresting Adeyemi so he can answer for his serious misdeeds is necessary. However, that would not be sufficient. Stopping there would be akin to treating malaria with paracetamol. In my view, at least four immediate reforms are required at this point.”

In an opinion article he authored yesterday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Special Duties, identified the need for a budget integrity law.

He wrote: “No allocation should appear in the Appropriation Act without being scrutinised by the relevant committee and published with a sponsoring MDA, a legal instrument, and a staff list. A ‘ghost agency’ clause should trigger an automatic audit by the Auditor-General.”

The top editor, with experiences across Daily Times, Punch, and ThisDay among many others, identified the creation of an appointment verification portal as a necessary tool to check forgery.

He said every federal appointment letter must be logged on a public, verifiable portal managed by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).

He said Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) should not accept physical letters without a portal code, adding: “That way, forgery becomes instantly detectable.”

Rahman also suggested that the Federal Secretariat must have more access control.

He wrote: “A forensic audit of all offices, signage, and allocations in the secretariat is desirable. Any office space given in the last three years without SGF/HoS approval should be revoked and investigated.”

A fourth suggestion “is the need for financial institution accountability. The CBN and commercial banks must explain how accounts were allegedly opened for PFIPC and 34 other ‘agencies’.

“The Bank Verification Number and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) database should be cross-checked before any government-linked account is activated.”

Rahman added: “In the final analysis, Prince Adeyemi allegedly gamed the system. But systems are gamed because they are weak. The PFIPC scandal is a stress test, and the system failed at three points: budget, appointment, and banking.”

Scandal reflects deeper systemic corruption, says Anglican Archbishop
ALSO, the Archbishop of Ondo Ecclesiastical Province and Bishop of Akure Anglican Diocese, Most Revd Simeon Borokini, described the controversy surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council as a reflection of Nigeria’s deep-rooted corruption, urging the government to use the revelations as an opportunity to pursue broader reforms.

Speaking at the second session of the fifteenth synod of the diocese, held at the Cathedral Church of St. David in Akure, Ondo State, the cleric said corruption had long been entrenched in the country’s system and called for those found culpable in the PFIPC controversy to be held accountable.

The synod, themed ‘Exceeding Great Reward’, heard Borokini stress that the allegations should be treated with the same seriousness as any other corruption case, noting that public resources belong to Nigerians and must be safeguarded.

“Corruption has always been with us. Now that this particular case has been exposed, those involved should be brought to book, and justice must be allowed to take its course. The one that I just mentioned is not the only one. But it is money meant for the nation, and I pray that God will allow them to retrieve some of the money, if everything has not been spent, so that it will be used for the populace,” he said.

Borokini also cautioned political leaders ahead of the 2027 general elections, urging them to ensure that the electoral process does not degenerate into a “do-or-die affair.”

He said political power should be regarded as a sacred trust for service rather than a tool of domination, and called on leaders to place the nation’s interests above personal ambition.