Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Youth Rights Campaign has issued a sweeping demand for an independent public inquiry into the controversy surrounding the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), insisting that the administration of President Bola Tinubu must provide a full explanation of what it described as serious allegations pointing to systemic governance failures by the Federal Government. In a statement issued on Saturday, 11 July 2026, and signed by its National Coordinator, Michael Adaramoye, and National Secretary, Francis Nwapa, the group said the conflicting claims by the Presidency and Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi have raised fundamental concerns about transparency, accountability and the credibility of Nigeria's public institutions.
The PFIPC scandal, which has dominated public discourse for weeks, centres on the discovery that an organisation presenting itself as a presidential council had secured office space within the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, opened bank accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria, and appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act with an allocation of 1.3 billion naira. The Presidency has insisted that the PFIPC was never legally established, describing it as a fiction that rested on a single forged document—an appointment letter allegedly bearing the forged signature of President Tinubu's Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila. Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man who presented himself as the council's Director-General, has rejected the allegations, insisting he was legitimately appointed and claiming he is the victim of persecution. He has also accused senior government officials of demanding bribes during his appointment process, allegations the Presidency has denied.
The YRC stressed that regardless of how the criminal proceedings eventually end, the controversy has already exposed troubling questions about the functioning of government institutions. "If an individual could allegedly operate for an extended period using the name of non-existent presidential bodies, maintain offices, recruit personnel, correspond with ministries, engage diplomats, and interact with public institutions before the matter came to light, then Nigerians deserve a comprehensive explanation of how such a situation could occur," the group said. The group further argued that if Adeyemi's claims about budgetary references and administrative records were inaccurate, the Nigerian government should publish official documents to conclusively address the issues instead of relying on competing public statements.
The YRC also drew parallels with the infamous Emmanuel Nwude airport fraud of the 1990s, while stressing that it was not equating the two cases. The group recalled that between 1995 and 1998, Nwude allegedly deceived officials of Banco Noroeste of Brazil into believing they were financing the purchase of the Murtala Muhammed Airport and the construction of a fictitious airport in Abuja through forged government documents, resulting in losses estimated at about $242 million. "The present controversy is fundamentally different in its facts, and YRC does not equate the two," the group said. "Nevertheless, both raise disturbing questions about the credibility of public institutions, the verification of official documents and the effectiveness of administrative oversight. Nigerians deserve answers."
The group questioned how the alleged impersonation could have continued undetected if the Presidency's account was accurate. It specifically asked how meetings were allegedly held with diplomats, how the purported agency allegedly opened an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, and how budgetary allocations were reportedly processed through the Presidency and the National Assembly if the agencies did not exist. "The reality is that Mr. Adeyemi could not have been able to pull all these corrupt strings without the collaboration of key and top public office holders in the presidential seat of power," the YRC alleged.
The YRC's demands come amid mounting pressure on President Tinubu from civil society organisations, opposition politicians and senior lawyers who have rejected the President's directive to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the scandal within 30 days. Critics argue that an internal government investigation cannot be trusted to uncover the full truth, and have called for an independent commission of inquiry with the power to summon witnesses and compel the production of documents. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has also demanded an independent investigation, stating that Nigerians deserve to know whether Adeyemi acted alone or with the backing of government officials. "Something is fundamentally wrong within the machinery of this administration. Nigerians deserve the whole truth, not carefully scripted press statements," Atiku said.
The PFIPC scandal has exposed deep-seated weaknesses in Nigeria's public financial management and institutional oversight. Babachir Lawal, a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, told the BBC that the agency's ability to secure a budget allocation and operate within the federal bureaucracy for months without detection pointed to official complicity. "You cannot create a budget code for yourself without the budget office knowing. There must be connivance with officials within," Lawal said. Oluseun Onigbinde, co-founder of BudgIT, a Nigerian transparency group, noted that the PFIPC does not appear in the budgets for 2023, 2024 or 2025 but then surfaces—fully formed and with its own budget code—in 2026. "This agency actually emanated and found itself in the budget," Onigbinde said.
As the pressure mounts, President Tinubu has defended his decision to refer the matter to the ICPC, insisting that the integrity of the Presidency and federal institutions "must be protected against impersonation, forgery, abuse of official identity and the exploitation of weaknesses in the public service." However, for the Youth Rights Campaign and a growing coalition of civil society groups, the scandal has already exposed a governance system that appears unable to prevent, detect or investigate fraud within its own ranks. "Nigerians deserve answers," the YRC declared, and until those answers are provided, the Tinubu administration will continue to face questions about its commitment to transparency, accountability and the rule of law.
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