The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has dismissed attempts to link former President Muhammadu Buhari to the controversy surrounding the alleged fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), insisting that the claims are entirely false and without factual basis.
In a statement issued on Sunday and made available to NATIONAL ACCORD in Abuja, the group maintained that President Buhari never established the so-called PFIPC or any agency by that name, contrary to reports suggesting it was allocated ₦1.3 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
According to the BMO, the only body created under the Buhari administration was the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), an advisory panel established to provide expert economic guidance to the President.
The organisation explained that at inception, the PEAC operated from offices on the second floor of the Federal Secretariat, within the Ministry of Health complex, which had been designated for the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President—a position that was filled much later during the administration.
It stressed that the council had no dedicated budget line throughout Buhari’s tenure, noting that its operational expenses were funded through presidential approvals processed by the Minister of Finance.
The BMO further described the PEAC as a part-time advisory body comprising distinguished economists and financial experts chaired by Professor Doyin Salami, CFR, before his subsequent appointment as Chief Economic Adviser to the President.
Other members of the council included Professor Mahmuda Sagagi as Vice Chairman, Professor Ode Ojowu, Dr. Shehu Yahaya, Dr. Iyabo Masha, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, and Dr. Mohammed Adaya Salisu, who served as Secretary in his capacity as Senior Special Assistant to the President on Development Policy.
According to the statement, members of the council received no salaries, while approved administrative and office expenses were paid by the Permanent Secretary, State House, with the President’s authorization.
The organisation noted that when the current administration assumed office in 2023, it neither dissolved the PEAC nor renewed the appointments of its members. The council members, being political appointees, considered their tenure to have ended with the expiration of the Buhari administration.
It added that the office, which bore the inscriptions “Presidential Economic Advisory Council” and “Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President,” remained unoccupied after the transition and was only put to use several years later.
Rejecting attempts to associate Buhari with the ongoing controversy, the BMO said reports linking the former President to the alleged fake government agency were unfounded.
“News reports suggesting that the ongoing comedy-drama surrounding the alleged fictitious government agency originated under the Buhari administration are false, groundless and devoid of any factual basis,” the statement said.
Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the supposed DG of PFIPC
The reaction of the BMO came in respect of the current controversy over a purported federal body known as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), which the Nigerian Presidency says never legally existed. According to the Presidency, the council was not created by any Act of Parliament, executive order, presidential directive, or other lawful instrument.
At the centre of the controversy is one Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, who allegedly presented himself as the Director-General of the PFIPC using what investigators say were forged appointment letters and other official documents. The Presidency has described him as an impostor and says the signatures and documents used to support his appointment were fabricated.
What has made the scandal particularly significant is that the alleged fake agency reportedly operated for months within Nigeria’s federal bureaucracy and succeeded in obtaining recognition from several government institutions before its legitimacy was questioned.
