The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has described the scandal surrounding the alleged operation of a non-existent presidential agency that received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 federal budget as “indicting” of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, saying the episode exposed deep institutional failures within government.
The Deputy Director of SERAP, Kolawole Oluwadare, said it was implausible that Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claimed to be the Director-General of the non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), could have single-handedly secured official recognition, budgetary allocation and other government privileges without the involvement or negligence of multiple public institutions.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with THE WHISTLER, Oluwadare argued that the controversy was not about the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, but about the failure of institutions responsible for ensuring checks and balances within government.
The question is, this issue, as we have seen it reported in the media, is not about the Chief of Staff to the President. It is about failure of institutions,” he said.
According to him, the budget preparation process involves months of scrutiny by ministries, departments and agencies, the Budget Office of the Federation, the Presidency and the National Assembly before the Appropriation Bill is signed into law by the President.
He noted that the Budget Office is expected to verify the legitimacy of agencies and ensure that fictitious or duplicated budget items are not included before forwarding the proposal to the Presidency.
“The government is telling us Nigerians that this so-called fake agency managed to find N1.3bn in the federal budget and was not seen in all these processes.
“The idea that he acted alone, or that it’s fake, is not only preposterous, it is indicting of this administration,” Oluwadare said.
He said the scandal suggested either widespread collusion among officials involved in the budget process or gross negligence across several institutions.
“It can only mean one thing. It is either those institutions colluded, including individuals in all these processes, or they were negligent.
“And being negligent, it would have to be the highest form of coincidence that several institutions and individuals throughout all these processes, including those that allowed him to apply to the CBN, to open an account, including those that allowed him to have an office in the Federal Secretariat, that all of them were negligent at the same time.
“Come on. That would be the highest form of coincidence. It can’t be negligence. There has to be collusion. We don’t know who, but that is what the investigation should point out,” he added.
Oluwadare also warned against making Adeyemi the sole person to bear responsibility for the alleged fraud.
“But what should never happen is that this individual is painted as a scapegoat and is now made to take the fall for all this wrongdoing. It is not possible that he acted alone. It’s not possible,” he said.
President Tinubu had directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the scandal after Adeyemi, the disowned Director-General of the non-existent PFIPC, alleged that he paid N400m in bribes to secure an appointment letter.
Using official government documents, the agency, despite not being established by any law or presidential proclamation, obtained office space in the Federal Secretariat, secured a budgetary allocation, opened accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and employed public servants.
