‘Explain the ₦1.3bn budget for fake agency to Nigerians’ — Atiku slams Tinubu

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has asked President Bola Tinubu for an explanation of how a supposedly nonexistent government ministry reportedly obtained an ₦1.3 billion budgetary allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Bill.

This is according to Atiku who, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in a statement released on Thursday said that the assertion made by the Presidency that the allegedly fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) ministry was fake has created more doubts than answers.

He stated that in case there was no such ministry, Nigerians deserve to know how it reportedly appeared in the budget documents of the country.

“The Presidency now wants Nigerians to believe that one private citizen single-handedly forged presidential documents, impersonated senior government officials, established an office inside the Federal Secretariat, allegedly opened dozens of bank accounts, including accounts bearing government identities, hosted foreign ambassadors without diplomatic clearance, secured official recognition across several government circles, and all but embedded a phantom agency into the machinery of government without a single insider aiding him. That explanation demands far greater faith than the scandal itself,” the statement said.

The former vice president questioned the alleged ₦1.3 billion allocation reportedly made to the PFIPC in the 2026 Appropriation Act.

“If the agency was fictitious, who prepared the budget estimates bearing its name? Which ministry submitted them? Which officials defended those estimates before the National Assembly? Which committees scrutinised them? Which lawmakers approved them? Who inserted the allocation into the Appropriation Bill? And ultimately, who signed that budget into law?” Atiku asked.

He argued that the controversy pointed to serious institutional failures, saying the National Assembly, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) all have questions to answer over the matter.

Atiku said whether the alleged scheme was the work of insiders or the result of poor governance, the government must accept responsibility.

“Whether this was an elaborate fraud aided by insiders or a catastrophic failure of governance, one conclusion is unavoidable: the government failed,” he said.

He called for an independent investigation into the alleged scandal, insisting that those responsible should be identified and prosecuted without political interference.

“We therefore demand a truly independent investigation that follows the evidence wherever it leads. No sacred cows. No political protection. No selective justice,” the statement added.

The Presidency has maintained that the PFIPC was never an official government agency, describing it as the creation of a suspected fraudster currently under investigation by security agencies.

However, Atiku insisted that President Tinubu must explain the reported budgetary allocation linked to the agency and the apparent lapses that allegedly allowed it to appear in official government records