Fresh calls for a legislative investigation into the controversy surrounding the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) emerged on Saturday, with lawyer and public affairs analyst Frank Tietie urging the National Assembly to probe what he described as apparent lapses in government oversight.
The renewed demand comes days after the Presidency disowned the PFIPC, insisting that no such government agency exists, despite claims reportedly made by Prince Mathew Adeniyi Adeyemi, who identified himself as the council’s Director-General.
Speaking on Newsnight on ARISE Television, Tietie argued that the controversy raises broader questions about how a body the Presidency says does not exist allegedly came to be associated with official government processes.
According to him, if the allegations surrounding the PFIPC are established, they would suggest either significant failures in institutional oversight or a coordinated attempt to create legitimacy for a non-existent agency.
“This is beyond institutional failure at the highest level of governance in our country,” he said. “It is an expression of fundamental official negligence on a simultaneous scale that has never been seen in the history of this country.”
Rather than focusing solely on individuals, Tietie said investigators should examine whether government institutions discharged their oversight responsibilities.
“The indictment is not about one man,” he said, arguing that the roles of the National Assembly, the Presidency, the Budget Office, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Chief of Staff, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service and security agencies should be scrutinised where necessary.
He also urged the National Assembly to invoke its investigative powers under Section 88 of the Constitution to determine whether any official procedures, records or budgetary processes were linked to the purported council.
“If an agency that supposedly does not exist found its way into official government processes, then Nigerians deserve to know how that happened,” he said.
Tietie further argued that Adeyemi should be regarded as a potential witness pending the outcome of any investigation, cautioning against treating him as the sole focus of the controversy.
“This man should be given witness protection because the proper investigation has not even started,” he said.
He maintained that only an independent and transparent probe would resolve the lingering questions surrounding the controversy and restore public confidence in government institutions.
The PFIPC controversy has continued to generate reactions from legal practitioners, civil society organisations and opposition figures, many of whom have called for a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances surrounding the alleged agency and any official dealings connected to it.
While the Presidency has maintained that the PFIPC is not a recognised government agency, calls are growing for lawmakers to establish whether any public institutions or officials played a role in activities allegedly carried out in its name.