Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has said the political gymnastics employed by the Presidency to shield the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, from mounting allegations surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal have only exposed the Tinubu administration to greater public ridicule and suspicion.

In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said that while the controversy surrounding the Director-General of the “supposed non-existent”

Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, has yet to subside, fresh revelations from the 2026 Appropriation Act have exposed what he described as a disturbing pattern of budgetary manipulation and the deliberate concealment of questionable projects in obscure agencies for the apparent purpose of diverting public funds.

The former Vice President noted that on page 2,236 of the 2026 Appropriation Act, under the budget of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education—an agency established to address the crisis of millions of out-of-school children—the Tinubu administration inserted billions of naira for road construction projects unrelated to the Commission’s statutory mandate.

According to the budget, about ₦1.4 billion was earmarked for the rehabilitation and construction of Obasanjo-Itele Road, Nazareth Road, Oke Ola, Imeko, Idogo Township Road, and Odedeyo-Mewuro Road.

Another ₦1.4 billion was budgeted for the construction of roads from Eyini High School to Lusada Junction, Ibooro, Idiya Central Community Road, Roundabout Abeokuta, Ile Ise Community Asuje Road, and Soyote Community Road in Abeokuta.

An additional ₦1.05 billion was allocated for Pakuj-Yporan Township Road in Ipokia Ward 2, while another ₦1.05 billion was budgeted for RCC Opposite Honda Agbebi Community Road and Ajuwon Baale Road.

“The question that naturally arises is this: Since when did the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education become a road construction agency?” Atiku asked.

“At a time when over 20 million Nigerian children remain outside the classroom, when schools are collapsing under the weight of neglect, and when the Almajiri crisis continues to threaten the future of an entire generation, the decision to convert an education commission into a contractor for road projects represents not merely a distortion of priorities but a cruel betrayal of the very children the Commission was created to serve.”

He alleged that the administration had once again resorted to hiding questionable projects in lesser-known agencies where public scrutiny is minimal and funds could be more easily diverted.
“This is the height of irresponsibility. It is the height of impunity. Indeed, it is the height of evil,” he said.

Abubakar Atiku argued that the latest revelations were not isolated, recalling that in the 2023 budget, funds meant for the Federal College of Education, Umunze, Anambra State, were allegedly diverted to constituency projects in Surulere I Federal Constituency of Lagos State on behalf of Gbajabiamila, who was then Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“The latest revelations, therefore, cannot be dismissed as an isolated incident or a mere administrative error. They fit into an already discernible pattern of budget padding, insertions and diversions that have become a defining feature of governance under this administration,” he said.

The former Vice President also referenced allegations made by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claimed that Femi Gbajabiamila demanded billions of naira, including an alleged upfront payment of ₦400 million and nearly half of the agency’s proposed ₦27.4 billion take-off grant—about ₦12.5 billion—as a condition for securing his appointment as Director-General of the PFIPC.

“The Presidency cannot simply wave away these allegations with press statements and political sophistry when the evidence increasingly points to a disturbing culture of impunity,” he stated.

Questioning the Federal Government’s handling of the matter, Atiku asked why Adeyemi had not been arraigned if he was indeed a fraudster, why the organisation was reportedly still operating from the Federal Secretariat, and how he was allegedly able to visit the leadership of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission while supposedly under investigation.

“These are legitimate questions that deserve answers,” he added.

He further argued that the scandal was assuming dimensions “even more troubling than the Abdulrasheed Maina affair,” noting that in the Maina case, investigations, arrests and prosecutions followed swiftly, whereas the current administration had responded mainly with denials.

According to Atiku, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu cannot claim ignorance because the 2026 budget bears his signature and the agencies involved operate under his administration.

“If billions of naira can be hidden under agencies with no legal mandate to execute such projects, then either the President approved these distortions or he was completely unaware of what was happening under his watch.

“The first possibility would amount to complicity. The second would amount to an admission of an absentee presidency where consequential decisions are being taken without the knowledge or supervision of the President.

“Neither possibility is flattering.”

He also called on the National Assembly to explain how the appropriations passed legislative scrutiny.

“Parliament was established as the watchdog of the public purse, not as an assembly whose principal function is to chant ‘On Your Mandate’ while obvious irregularities sail through the appropriation process without interrogation.”

Atiku warned that Nigeria could not continue on a path where budgets were treated as instruments of patronage and public institutions converted into conduits for questionable expenditure.

“As the saying goes, darkness cannot conquer darkness. Expecting this administration to wage a sincere war against corruption increasingly appears like expecting the sun to rise in the west and set in the east.

“It is a distant impossibility.

“The Nigerian people deserve answers, and this administration owes them nothing less than a full, transparent and independent investigation into these troubling revelations.”