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EXCLUSIVE: The N27.4 Billion Phantom: How a “Non-Existent” Council Smuggled N1.3bn Through the Senate Amid Extortion Claims

Adesida Oluwaseun

Breaking: Watchdogs Demand the National Assembly Expose Who Defended the Disputed PFIPC Budget During Committee Hearings as the DSS is Urged to Arrest its Self-Proclaimed DG.

The Nigerian political landscape is reeling from a massive controversy surrounding a purported government agency that official records originally stated does not even exist. What began as a high-stakes extortion battle involving the Presidency has now mutated into an unprecedented crisis of accountability at the National Assembly.

An exclusive nuus.ng investigation connects the explosive extortion allegations to a startling discovery in the national budget and an unsolved mystery within the halls of the Senate.

The Extortion Bombshell: Bribes and Billions

The scandal erupted when Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claims to be the Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), convened a press conference levying heavy, unverified accusations against President Bola Tinubu’s inner circle. He launched a blistering attack against the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, accusing him of multi-billion-naira extortion.

  • The Proxy Payout: Adeyemi alleged that Gbajabiamila collected a massive N400 million bribe through a proxy to secure Adeyemi’s appointment as the head of the council.
  • The 48% Ultimatum: He further claimed the Chief of Staff demanded an additional N200 million and a staggering 48% cut of the PFIPC’s supposed N27.4 billion take-off grant.
  • The Retaliation Motive: Adeyemi insists that the government’s current denial of the PFIPC is merely a retaliatory tactic to silence him for refusing to yield to the extortion demands.

The Budget Bombshell: Funding a Ghost Agency

Initially, factual evidence increasingly pointed to the council being a bureaucratic mirage. The Office of the Chief of Staff issued a categorical disclaimer stating the PFIPC does not exist under the Tinubu administration and that Adeyemi was never appointed to head any such agency. Furthermore, official documents from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), dating back to October 21, 2025, explicitly stated that the PFIPC “is not a recognised body of the Federal Government of Nigeria” and has “no legal or administrative backing”.

However, while the Presidency vehemently denied the agency’s existence, a deep dive into the nation’s financial records reveals a glaring contradiction that the government has yet to explain. Despite the Presidency’s claims, official documents confirm that a budget item for the PFIPC explicitly exists in the 2026 annual budget. The 2026 Federal Government’s Appropriation Act directly contradicts the Presidency’s claims.

The budget expressly lists the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council under the Presidency, proving that the council received substantial statutory funding. Here are the cold, hard facts uncovered in the 2026 budget documents:

  • Total Allocation: The government approved a total allocation of N1,302,978,784 for the council.
  • Personnel Costs: N802,978,783 was explicitly earmarked to cover the council’s staff salaries.
  • Overhead Expenses: N200,000,001 was set aside for operational overhead.
  • Capital Projects: A further N300 million was budgeted to fund capital expenditures.

The Phantom Senate Defender

As official documents reveal a staggering N1.3 billion allocation for the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act, a glaring question is paralyzing the political landscape: Who actually stood before the Senate committees to defend this budget?

By constitutional design, no Ministry, Department, or Agency (MDA) can receive federal funding without a physical budget defence before the relevant committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate. An exclusive nuus.ng investigation reveals that the identity of the official who defended this allocation during the Senate’s mandatory budget defence sessions currently remains a heavily guarded mystery.

Zero Legislative Records: Currently, there are no public legislative records, committee minutes, or transcripts showing any official stepping forward to justify the N802 million personnel cost or the N300 million capital expenditure earmarked for the phantom council.

The Unanswered Question: If Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi—who is currently facing an eight-count charge at the Federal High Court for parading himself as the DG—was never recognized by the Presidency, who signed and presented the PFIPC budget documents submitted to the Senate?

The Accountability Crisis and DSS Intervention

This discovery elevates the Prince Adeyemi scandal from a mere extortion dispute into a full-blown national transparency crisis. Policy experts and transparency watchdogs are now raising urgent questions regarding how an agency that the government insists does not exist secured a space on pages 50 and 51 of the 2026 Appropriation Act. Critics and policy analysts argue that the total silence from the Senate Appropriations Committee suggests either a catastrophic lapse in legislative oversight or high-level complicity in smuggling the allocation into the final budget.

Simultaneously, the narrative initially flipped sharply against the self-proclaimed Director-General, with organized groups tightening the noose.

  • DSS Ultimatum: The Centre for Transparency and Accountability in Governance (CTAG) has officially called on the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force to investigate Adeyemi. They describe his actions as “a dangerous pattern of impersonation” and a direct threat to national security.
  • The Missing Gazette: The Coalition for Truth and Justice publicly challenged Adeyemi to produce his official appointment letter or a Federal Government Gazette establishing the PFIPC. To date, no such document has been presented.

As the Presidency remains silent on the N1.3 billion budget allocation, Nigerians demand immediate answers to uncover how a supposedly “phantom” council secured real taxpayer funds. The Nigerian public now demands that the Senate open its books, release the committee hearing records, and reveal the phantom official who successfully defended a N1.3 billion budget for an agency that the Federal Government insists does not exist.