PFIPC Scandal: Atiku Questions ₦6.44 Billion World Cup Budget, Presidency Fires Back

The controversy surrounding the disputed Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) deepened on Wednesday as the Senate rejected, for the second time in one week, a move to investigate the agency’s controversial budget allocation.

The development came as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the Presidency traded accusations over the appropriate body to investigate how the purported agency gained access to government institutions and secured a place in the 2026 Appropriation Act.

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) had on Tuesday arrested the self-styled Director-General of the council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, following a bench warrant issued by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

The warrant was issued after Adeyemi failed to appear for arraignment on an eight-count charge bordering on alleged conspiracy, forgery and impersonation.

Adeyemi is also embroiled in a dispute with the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, after alleging that the presidential aide demanded a ₦400m bribe and sought 48 per cent of the agency’s proposed ₦27.4bn take-off grant.

Gbajabiamila and the Presidency have denied the allegations and maintained that the PFIPC was not established by the Federal Government.

President Bola Tinubu subsequently directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the circumstances surrounding the purported agency and its controversial budgetary allocation.

The anti-graft agency was given 30 days to submit its report.

Atiku, however, rejected the arrangement, arguing that an investigation directed by the Presidency would not command public confidence.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate called for a bipartisan and independent inquiry.

According to Atiku, the controversy had gone beyond the alleged actions of Adeyemi and now involved questions about how government institutions dealt with the disputed organisation.

“The scandal is not merely that one man allegedly impersonated public authority,” Atiku said.

“The greater scandal is that the Tinubu administration allegedly opened the doors of the Nigerian state to him, allowed him to acquire the appearance and privileges of official legitimacy and permitted him to interact with institutions and diplomatic interests in the name of the Federal Government.”

The former Vice President asked how an organisation now described as non-existent allegedly secured office accommodation within the Federal Secretariat, recruited hundreds of workers, interacted with government agencies and obtained a budgetary allocation.

He said the investigation should establish who authorised the agency, facilitated its operations and inserted funds for it in the national budget.

Atiku also expressed concern that Adeyemi’s arrest could be used to divert attention from the wider institutional issues raised by the scandal.

Atiku also questioned an alleged ₦6.44bn allocation in the 2026 budget for a “Special Presidential Support Group for the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.”

He argued that the expenditure required explanation because Nigeria had reportedly been eliminated from the tournament’s qualifying race before the budget was presented to the National Assembly.

“How does a serious government budget ₦6.44bn for presidential support for World Cup qualifiers after the country had already been eliminated?” he asked.

“What competition was the money intended to support? Who inserted the provision, who approved it and who was expected to benefit from an expenditure whose stated purpose had already ceased to exist?”

The former Vice President described the allocation as evidence of deeper weaknesses in Nigeria’s budgeting process.

“It reinforces public suspicion that the national budget has become a warehouse for dubious expenditures, fiscal waste and allocations without any defensible public purpose,” he added.

Atiku maintained that the ICPC investigation ordered by Tinubu was incapable of inspiring confidence because the Presidency had already taken a public position on the controversy.

“The probe ordered by President Tinubu and assigned to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission is insufficient, self-serving and incapable of inspiring public confidence in the government’s claim of innocence,” he said.

He warned against suppressing evidence or framing the outcome of the investigation to protect powerful officials.