On 1 July 2026, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, issued a statement describing the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council associated with one Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew as fictitious entities. According to the statement, the Office of the Chief of Staff, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Police and other government institutions confirmed that no such agency exists within the Federal Government structure. In an earlier disclaimer issued on June 11, 2026, Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, stated that no appointment had been made of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi as head of the "Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council," and that the office did not exist under the administration.

However, a review of the federal government's 2026 approved budget which President Tinubu assented to on April 17, 2026 which President Tinubu assented to on April 17, 2026, shows that the same Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council was allocated the sum of 1.32 billion naira (₦1,302,978,784), as one of the agencies under the Presidency at line 18 with budget code 0111062001.

Salary accounts for ₦573,260,187 of the personnel line. The entire capital allocation of ₦300,000,000 sits under "Research and Development," classified as "Acquisition of Non-Tangible Assets." Project-level entries include ₦182,500,000 for "logistics for preparation of hosting World Investment Summit 2026."

The proposed budget provided for:

Adeyemi's response

Meanwhile, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi has rejected the rebuttals by President Tinubu's spokesperson and Chief of Staff, according to a report by Daily Trust, revealing that the disputed agency holds a Treasury Single Account at the Central Bank of Nigeria and an office space at the Federal Secretariat, which it has operated from for over a year.

Mr Adeyemi also revealed that he secured the appointment as the head of the agency after paying the president's Chief of Staff N400 million through a proxy, out of the N600 million he had requested, with an outstanding balance of N200 million.

However, Mr Onanuga refuted these claims, revealing that Mr Adeyemi made the allegations only after being granted police bail, having told the police in his original November 2025 statement that a man named Dolapo Tanimola had helped him secure the appointment.

The Accountability Question

This apparent contradiction raises important accountability questions. Questions requiring clarification from the Presidency include:

1. Why does the 2026 Appropriation Act contain a budget line for an entity the Presidency describes as fictitious?
2. Is the budget entry an administrative or typographical error?
3. Was the allocation intended for another government body with a similar name?
4. Which Ministry, Department or Agency prepared and submitted this budget proposal?
5. How did a fictitious agency make it to the approved budget despite the multiple review checkpoints?
6. Will the Budget Office and the National Assembly remove or amend the entry?

The annual budget is a legal appropriation document that authorises public expenditure. Budget entries should correspond to legally established government institutions. Where a budget contains allocations for an entity publicly described by the Presidency as non-existent, transparency requires prompt clarification to prevent confusion and safeguard public confidence in the budgeting process.