A political storm is engulfing Nigeria after a completely fictitious federal agency was discovered hidden inside the official 2026 budget.
The fake body, named the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, was shockingly allocated 1.3 billion naira in public funds.
Adding to the growing audacity of the scheme, the imaginary council was even granted physical office space inside Abuja’s federal secretariat.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has now ordered an anti-corruption commission to launch a deep investigation into the unprecedented security breach.
The master deception unravelled after the president’s chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, alleged his official signature had been forged.
The accused mastermind, Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, allegedly used these forged documents to open dozens of illicit bank accounts.
Matthew also reportedly bypassed the foreign affairs ministry to hold unauthorized meetings with foreign ambassadors representing various nations.
Critics speculate that a phantom agency could not infiltrate the highest echelons of government without some internal political collusion.
Opposition leaders are now demanding a truly independent inquiry, refusing to accept what they call carefully scripted press statements.
This massive scandal forces endemic corruption back into the spotlight just months before a highly contested January general election.