The Senate is set to address a brewing scandal on Tuesday involving a N1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act to a fraudulent government entity, the “Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.”
The investigation comes as plenary resumes, amid growing public outrage over how an alleged fraudster managed to smuggle the massive budget allocation through the National Assembly using a forged appointment letter.
The N1.3 billion line item was approved without any official from the council appearing before the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service to defend it.
According to National Assembly sources, the allocation was sneaked into the budget through a “backdoor arrangement,” bundled together with legitimate requests submitted directly from the Presidency to bypass legislative oversight.
“It was not brought in as a stand-alone item. It was done collectively with others that came in directly from the Presidency. So there was no defence or oversight,” a parliamentary source revealed. “The Senate leadership will address the controversy on Tuesday to douse the growing tension.”
Investigations reveal a catastrophic failure of due diligence across multiple tiers of government—including the Budget Office, the House of Representatives, and Civil Service Headquarters.
At the center of the scandal is Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew, who allegedly used a forged appointment letter featuring the falsified signature of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila. The Civil Service Headquarters accepted the letter without verification, allocating Mathew an office at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja. This allowed the fake agency to masquerade as a legitimate government organ for over a year, ensnaring private individuals, ministries, and diplomatic missions.
Tuesday’s Senate session is expected to grill committee heads and address alleged complicity by presiding officers in an attempt to uncover how deep the bureaucratic rot runs.
