Sometimes, one wonders whether those occupying power or those in its corridors think Nigerians have lost the ability to think right. How else does one explain a Presidency asking over 200 million citizens to believe that an agency which allegedly appeared in official records, received budgetary allocation, exchanged correspondence with committees of the National Assembly and operated within government circles never existed?
That is not merely a contradiction. It is an insult to the intelligence of Nigerians.
Governments make mistakes. Democracies survive because governments admit those mistakes and correct them. But when a government attempts to erase documented facts with a press statement, it ventures into a far more dangerous territory, where official narratives begin to compete with reality itself.
That is exactly where Nigeria now finds itself.
The controversy surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) is no longer about one agency or one individual. It has become a test of the credibility of government institutions and the respect they have for the citizens they serve.
The Presidency, through its spokesman, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, has described the PFIPC as a fictitious organisation allegedly created through forged documents by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew. The government’s position is straightforward: the agency never existed and its promoter is an impostor.
Ordinarily, that should settle the matter. But there is a problem.
Facts have a stubborn way of refusing to disappear simply because powerful people wish them away.
Reports indicate that the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes addressed official correspondence to the Director-General of the PFIPC. The House Committee on Treaties, Protocols and Agreements reportedly did the same.
Pause and think about that for a moment.
We are not talking about village associations or roadside organisations. We are talking about committees of the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
How does a non-existent agency receive official recognition from lawmakers?
How does a ghost organisation attract the attention of committees established by the Constitution?
More importantly, how does such an organisation allegedly find its way into the national budget?
According to reports, the PFIPC received an allocation exceeding N1.3 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
If this is true, then Nigerians deserve answers, because budgets do not prepare themselves. Agencies do not insert themselves into appropriation bills by magic.
There are procedures. There are approvals. There are signatures. There are public officials entrusted with responsibilities. Was the agency real when budget preparations were being made and only became fictitious after controversy erupted?
Or are Nigerians now expected to believe that a phantom organisation successfully infiltrated the machinery of government, navigated legislative processes, secured official recognition and obtained public funds without anyone noticing?
Either possibility is alarming.
The first suggests an attempt to distance influential individuals from an embarrassing controversy.
The second suggests a level of institutional failure that should worry every Nigerian.
There is no comfortable explanation.
What makes this matter even more troubling is the apparent haste with which the government appears determined to close the chapter before it is properly read.
Prince Adeyemi has made allegations involving senior government figures, including the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila.
Those allegations remain allegations. No responsible person should pronounce guilt before evidence is examined.
But neither should anyone be declared innocent merely because they occupy powerful offices.
The rule of law does not recognise sacred cows.
A government genuinely committed to transparency should welcome scrutiny rather than fear it.
If the PFIPC was indeed an elaborate fraud, then Nigerians deserve to know how such a fraud allegedly penetrated the highest levels of government.
Who approved the documents?
Who recognised the organisation?
Who facilitated its activities?
Who looked away?
Who benefited?
These are legitimate questions.
If, on the other hand, the agency enjoyed some form of official recognition before falling out of favour, Nigerians deserve to know why the government is now seeking to disown it.
The truth cannot be hidden forever.
What is even more curious are reports and photographs showing Prince Adeyemi in the company of prominent public officials and influential personalities.
While photographs alone do not establish legitimacy, they certainly raise questions.
Was everyone deceived?
Were all these public officials victims of one man’s alleged manipulation?
Or is there a larger story yet to be told?
Nigerians deserve answers.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time citizens have found themselves trapped between official denials and uncomfortable facts.
Over the years, Nigerians have watched scandals emerge, dominate public discourse and eventually disappear without satisfactory explanations.
Files are opened and quietly closed.
Committees are established and forgotten.
Investigations are announced and abandoned.
The public is expected to move on.
But perhaps that is precisely why this matter deserves greater attention.
This controversy goes beyond one agency.
It goes beyond one individual.
It goes beyond partisan politics.
It is about whether public institutions still possess the integrity required to sustain public trust.
Every contradiction left unexplained weakens confidence in government.
Every unanswered question deepens public suspicion.
Every attempt to suppress inquiry creates even greater curiosity.
This is why an independent investigation has become necessary.
Not an investigation designed to protect reputations.
Not an investigation designed to produce predetermined conclusions.
But one capable of following evidence wherever it leads.
If anyone is guilty, let the facts expose them.
If anyone is innocent, let the facts clear them.
That is how accountability works in a democracy.
The Presidency cannot simply wave away documents.
It cannot wish away legislative correspondence.
It cannot erase public records through press statements.
If the PFIPC was a fraud, then expose every official who enabled it.
If it was legitimate, then explain why Nigerians are now being told it never existed.
Silence is no longer an option.
Denial is no longer sufficient.
Arresting one man will not answer the questions confronting the nation.
Nigerians deserve facts, not narratives.
Until those facts are laid bare through a transparent and credible investigation, one question will continue to echo across the country:
Who exactly is deceiving whom?
- Deen is the Executive Director, IT with Greenbarge Reporters online newspaper
