The controversy surrounding the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) intensified on Wednesday as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Presidency clashed over the appropriate process for investigating the scandal, while the Senate again rejected calls for a separate legislative probe. The upper chamber maintained that the matter was already before the courts and under investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), following President Bola Tinubu’s directive for a 30-day investigation.
Atiku called for an independent, bipartisan investigation into the scandal, arguing that an ICPC-led probe ordered by the President could not inspire public confidence. In a statement issued by his spokesman, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president questioned how an agency the Presidency now claims does not exist allegedly secured office accommodation, recruited personnel, obtained diplomatic recognition and received a N1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. He also queried a separate N6.44 billion budget provision for Nigeria’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign despite the country’s earlier elimination from the competition.
The Presidency, however, dismissed Atiku’s demand, insisting that the ICPC investigation remained the only independent process required to uncover the facts. Presidential spokesman Temitope Ajayi challenged the former vice president’s apparent lack of confidence in the country’s anti-corruption institutions, arguing that the ICPC had the legal mandate to investigate corruption-related matters and had been duly directed by President Tinubu to handle the case.
The Senate also declined a renewed motion by Senator Suleiman Kawu seeking an investigation into how the controversial budgetary allocation was inserted into the national budget. Senate President Godswill Akpabio ruled that the issue had become sub judice following the arraignment of the principal suspect and noted that the President’s directive to the ICPC made a parallel Senate investigation unnecessary. Kawu had argued that the National Assembly had a constitutional responsibility to scrutinise the budgetary process regardless of the executive’s investigation.
The controversy deepened after the arrest of Adeniyi Adeyemi, who described himself as the Director-General of the PFIPC. Adeyemi is facing charges bordering on conspiracy, forgery, impersonation and obtaining money by false pretences. He had previously accused the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, of demanding a N400 million bribe and a 48 per cent stake in the agency’s proposed N27.4 billion take-off grant, allegations that remain unproven.
Security sources revealed that Adeyemi was arrested near Ilesa in Osun State after operatives of the Intelligence Response Team tracked him for about five days. He was reportedly on a police watchlist and was apprehended during a security operation in the state before being transferred through Ibadan to Abuja for prosecution. The Federal Government has since filed criminal charges against him, while opposition figures continue to insist that only an investigation conducted outside the executive arm of government can fully address the questions surrounding the alleged agency and its budgetary allocation.
