The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Special Duties, Tunde Rahman, has called for a fair investigation into the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council scandal.
He cautioned that the controversy must not be reduced to the prosecution of individuals while the administrative weaknesses it exposed remain unaddressed.
Rahman said the legal process must be allowed to run its full course and cautioned against condemning the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, before the conclusion of ongoing investigations.
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“The investigation and the legal process must run their course. The CoS should not be guillotined, literally. There should be a presumption of innocence until he is proven guilty,” he said.
In a commentary titled “The PFIPC Scandal and the Urgent Reforms Required,” Rahman argued that even if the allegations against Gbajabiamila were eventually found to be false, the reported use of his name, signature and official letterhead to access government facilities exposed serious vulnerabilities in the nation’s administrative safeguards.
The Presidential aide noted that the scandal has raised broader national concerns over the integrity of the budget process, the verification of federal appointments, access control within government institutions and due diligence by financial organisations.
“But the more important point is this: even if every allegation against the CoS is false, as it appears to be, the fact that his name and signature could be forged and used to access government property still suggests some vulnerability in the administrative controls,” Rahman said.
He described the controversy as an opportunity for the Federal Government and relevant institutions to strengthen safeguards across the public service rather than treat the matter as an isolated case of alleged fraud.
Rahman highlighted that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew had been charged with eight counts of fraud and forgery, but maintained that the larger concern was how a non-existent agency allegedly secured office accommodation in the Federal Secretariat, appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act with an allocation of about N1.3 billion and reportedly operated multiple bank accounts.
“This is not a story about Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila versus Prince Adeyemi. This is a story about systemic failure. And until the system is properly fixed, it is quite probable that the next Adeyemi is somewhere forging another letterhead,” he said.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Special Duties identified the budget process as one of the major areas requiring scrutiny, noting that PFIPC reportedly appeared in the Appropriation Act despite lacking legal backing or formal recognition by the Federal Government.
He emphasised that the development raised questions over how budget entries were processed and whether the relevant institutions carried out sufficient checks before the allocation was approved.
“A ghost agency should not be able to get real money. If the Budget Office, House of Representatives and Senate all missed this, our first line of fiscal defence needs a long, hard look,” he stated.
Rahman also drew attention to weaknesses in the verification of official appointments, saying the suspect allegedly presented a forged letter bearing the purported signature of the Chief of Staff and secured office space within the Federal Secretariat.
He warned that the acceptance of unverified appointment documents could expose ministries, departments and agencies to similar abuses if stronger authentication measures were not introduced.
The Presidential aide further called for an explanation from the Central Bank of Nigeria and commercial banks over claims that accounts were opened for PFIPC and other alleged fictitious agencies.
He said existing Know Your Customer requirements and government financial controls should ordinarily have prevented the activation of accounts linked to an organisation without legal status.
Rahman also clarified that the Office of the Chief of Staff does not issue federal appointments, noting that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation serves as the clearing house for appointments made by the President.
He further explained that the Chief of Staff’s office first raised concerns over the agency after irregularities were reportedly flagged by the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, leading to a public disclaimer and subsequent legal action against the suspect.
Rahman referenced President Bola Tinubu’s directive to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate the scandal and submit its findings within one month.
He said the investigation should establish how the alleged breaches occurred, identify the institutions and officials responsible for failures in verification and recommend measures to prevent a recurrence.
According to him, arresting and prosecuting the suspect would be necessary but insufficient if the weaknesses that made the alleged fraud possible were not corrected.
“Arresting Adeyemi so he can answer for his serious misdeeds is necessary. However, that would not be sufficient. Stopping there would be akin to treating malaria with paracetamol,” Rahman said.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Special Duties proposed stronger budget integrity measures requiring every allocation to be linked to a legally established agency, a sponsoring ministry or department and verifiable personnel records.
He also recommended the creation of a public appointment-verification portal managed by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, with unique verification codes attached to every federal appointment letter.
Other proposals included a forensic audit of office allocations and signage within the Federal Secretariat, stronger access controls and greater accountability by financial institutions handling government-related accounts.
Rahman said the Bank Verification Number system and Corporate Affairs Commission database should be cross-checked before any account linked to a government organisation is activated.
He concluded that the PFIPC controversy should serve as a national wake-up call on the need to protect public institutions from fraud, impersonation and administrative manipulation.
“The PFIPC scandal is a stress test, and the system failed at three points: budget, appointment and banking,” he said.
