Former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, has intensified pressure on the Presidency over the widening controversy surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, insisting that Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila must be probed rather than shielded from scrutiny.

Dalung’s fresh remarks come amid growing calls from opposition figures, civil society groups, and lawyers for an independent investigation into how the PFIPC, an agency the Presidency has publicly dismissed as fictitious, still managed to secure a budget allocation exceeding N1.3 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act and reportedly operated from the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.

The controversy stems from allegations by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, who parades himself as the Director-General of the council, that Gbajabiamila collected N400 million through a proxy and demanded an additional N200 million to secure his appointment, a claim the Presidency has firmly denied, insisting Gbajabiamila cannot issue appointments and describing Adeyemi as an impostor facing criminal charges.

Reacting to the Presidency’s earlier defence of the Chief of Staff, issued through Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga, Dalung argued that the government’s explanation raised more questions than it answered. He maintained that regardless of the outcome of Adeyemi’s ongoing court case, the Presidency still owes Nigerians a clear account of how a supposedly non-existent agency could recruit staff, open bank accounts, meet foreign investors, and appear in national budget documents without triggering any internal alarm. He also pointed to the unresolved circumstances surrounding the death of Babatunde Tanimola, an alleged intermediary in the matter who reportedly died in a hotel fire days before Adeyemi’s arrest, questioning whether investigators had carried out an autopsy or examined his communications and financial records.

Dalung’s intervention adds to a chorus of demands from opposition parties including the ADC and NDC, alongside rights lawyer Femi Falana, all of whom have called for a transparent, independent probe covering the Presidency, the Budget Office, the Accountant-General’s office, and the National Assembly, warning that the scandal, now widely referred to as “Adeyemigate,” has become a broader test of institutional accountability within the Tinubu administration.

Photo Credit: Guardian Newspaper