The row over how the disputed Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) ended up with a line item in Nigeria’s national budget escalated this week, as fresh statements from the agency’s self-described head and a chorus of political and civic voices piled pressure on the presidency for a transparent accounting. At the centre of the storm are two of President Bola Tinubu’s closest aides — Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume — both facing mounting questions over how an agency that officials have publicly disowned nonetheless made it through budget preparation, National Assembly approval, and presidential assent.
Adeyemi says detention makes him an unlikely architect of the scheme
Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claims the title of Director-General of PFIPC, used a video interview to push back on suggestions that he engineered the agency’s budget line himself. His central defense: he says he was in police custody for roughly three weeks spanning late October into mid-November, a stretch that covered the period when the budget was drawn up, meaning — in his account — no one from the agency appeared before lawmakers to defend any funding request.
He framed the situation as a paradox rather than an admission — if the agency was fictitious, he asked, how did it survive scrutiny from both chambers of the legislature and reach the president’s desk for signature? Adeyemi stopped short of naming names but suggested well-placed figures had a hand in getting the allocation through, calling for a full investigation into what he described as serious lapses in the system. He also said that upon leaving detention, he found his office had already been handed to someone else, and that he was subsequently arraigned in court.
On his dealings with the Chief of Staff, Adeyemi said he never met Gbajabiamila in person, communicating instead through an intermediary who has since died. He said he still holds documents he’s prepared to hand over to the DSS, police, or any panel the president sets up.
American lobbyist wants Washington to widen the net
Von Batten-Montague-York, a U.S.-based lobbyist, has called on President Trump and Congress to broaden their scrutiny of Nigeria to examine whether Gbajabiamila played a role in diverting U.S.-linked development funding through what he called a bogus federal agency. He pointed to reports that PFIPC drew roughly N1.3 billion from the 2026 budget in an allocation that touched World Bank-backed projects, and said he was pushing to have any inquiry extended to cover possible fraud against the United States by senior Tinubu administration figures.
The claim has revived attention on an old disciplinary matter from Gbajabiamila’s legal career in the U.S. Records show Georgia’s Supreme Court suspended his law license in 2007 after he admitted mishandling a client’s settlement funds — he had deposited roughly $25,000 into his trust account, used part of it personally, then shut his practice and moved to Nigeria before eventually repaying the client. The court treated it as a case that could have warranted disbarment but accepted a voluntary three-year suspension instead; he never sought reinstatement, and his Georgia bar membership later lapsed for good.
Wike calls the allegations a political hit job
FCT Minister Nyesom Wike used his monthly press briefing to reject any link between Gbajabiamila and the disputed council, calling the accusations an attempt to damage the presidency politically. He defended Tinubu’s decision to hand the matter to the ICPC and pushed back against opposition figures, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who have called for the Chief of Staff’s removal ahead of any findings.
Wike argued it made no sense for Gbajabiamila to funnel money to an agency with no legal standing, noting that creating agencies or drafting budget lines isn’t within the Chief of Staff’s role. He also questioned why Adeyemi has aired his claims publicly rather than presenting evidence to security agencies, suggesting the timing of opposition statements exposed the affair as partisan theater.
Ohanaeze wants the probe taken out of government hands
Igbo socio-cultural apex group Ohanaeze Ndigbo, through elder Chief Goody Uwazurike, argued the scale of the allegations demands an inquiry independent of government machinery, expressing doubt that the public would trust an ICPC-led probe given the commission’s status as a state institution. He suggested officials implicated in the affair should step back temporarily and that scrutiny should extend beyond individuals to the budgeting and approval processes that let the agency slip through. He also pressed the National Assembly on its oversight role, arguing lawmakers can’t simply defer to whatever documentation agencies hand them, and called for open hearings involving civil society, media and anti-corruption groups so findings aren’t shielded from public view.
YCE’s Olajide counsels patience
Dr. Kunle Olajide, a former Secretary-General of the Yoruba Council of Elders, urged the public not to assume guilt before an investigation runs its course, while conceding that procedural failures were evident somewhere in the process. He said officials named in the controversy might consider stepping aside to preserve the credibility of any inquiry, and stressed that allegations touching the Chief of Staff’s office — given its centrality to government — need to be handled with particular care to protect the presidency’s standing.
Baba-Ahmed: only a judicial panel will do
Former presidential aide Hakeem Baba-Ahmed argued on social media that the presidency has no business investigating itself and called for a judicial commission of inquiry to examine the full scope of the affair, including the conduct of anyone connected to the presidency implicated in what he termed the Adeyemi scandal.
