We Have Not Receive Petition Against Fake Agency, We Can’t Investigate It, Senate
From Our Correspondent
The Senate, on Tuesday, said it has not received any petition to intervene in the controversy surrounding an alleged non-existent agency and its purported Director General, Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew.
Spokesperson of the Senate, Senator Yemi Adaramodu (Ekiti South), told journalists after plenary that the Red chamber would not dabble into the dispute over the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC, until a formal petition is submitted.
The controversy erupted in recent weeks after the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, disowned PFIPC and Mathew.
Mathew countered that the agency is known to the Presidency and alleged that Gbajabiamila collected N400 million from him for the appointment and demanded 48 per cent of the N1.3 billion appropriated for the agency in the 2026 budget.
Adaramodu said the allegations and counter-allegations remain an executive matter to be resolved between the Office of the Chief of Staff and the alleged fake DG.
He noted that while the alleged agency has a budget line in the 2026 Appropriation Act, the National Assembly did not create or insert it.
He added that it is not the duty of the Senate or House of Representatives to conduct security checks on appointees to Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
“The budget line being referred to was not created by the National Assembly. If the alleged fake DG were a presidential appointee screened and confirmed by the Senate, the controversy might be somewhat linked to us,” Adaramodu said.
He stated that since the matter is already before the courts, Senate rules prevent it from intervening.
“However, if a petition is sent to the Senate by any of the feuding parties or any concerned Nigerian on the existence or non-existence of the agency or DG, it will be legislatively looked into,” he added.
End.
