The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) has refuted claims that the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) successfully opened and operated an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), insisting that the council never completed the mandatory procedures required for the account to become operational.
The clarification comes amid the ongoing controversy surrounding the alleged activities of the PFIPC and its self-acclaimed Director-General, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who is currently facing criminal prosecution over allegations of conspiracy, forgery and impersonation.
The latest position by the OAGF also appears to respond to earlier comments made by the Presidency regarding the circumstances under which the purported agency allegedly attempted to establish financial operations within the federal government’s payment system.
Last week, the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, had alleged in an official statement that Adeyemi used forged documents to deceive government officials into facilitating the opening of a Central Bank account for the disputed agency.
According to Onanuga, police investigations revealed that Adeyemi relied on fake presidential documents to mislead the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation during the account-opening process.
“The Police found that Adeyemi, using the fake documents he created, fraudulently opened a CBN account by misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. According to the police, no government money has been transferred into the account,” Onanuga had stated.
However, reacting to the claims on Sunday, the Director of Public Relations at the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Bawa Mokwa, provided further clarification, maintaining that although an application process was initiated, the account never became active because critical statutory requirements were not fulfilled.
According to Mokwa, the process began after Prince Adeyemi presented what was described as an appointment letter linking him to an existing government agency.
He explained that the initial documentation submitted prompted the commencement of the account-opening procedure.
However, the process was never completed because the necessary documentation required to activate the account was not provided.
Specifically, Mokwa stated that the names of the authorised signatories who would operate the account were never submitted, making it impossible for the Central Bank account to become functional.
He stressed that without those mandatory details, the account could not receive any deposits or government allocations.
“The account has not seen the light of day. It has not received one kobo because it was never fully activated. The Accountant-General has not released any money because there is no operational account for such payment,” Mokwa said.
The OAGF further clarified that the mere inclusion of an organisation in the national budget does not automatically entitle it to receive public funds.
According to Mokwa, although the PFIPC had a budgetary allocation contained in the Appropriation Act, such provisions alone do not translate into automatic releases from the federal treasury.
He explained that every government agency must satisfy several financial, administrative and legal requirements before any budgetary allocation can be accessed.
Consequently, he insisted that no money was ever released by the Office of the Accountant-General to the disputed council.
Mokwa also dismissed allegations that salaries had been paid to workers purportedly employed by the PFIPC.
He explained that the Federal Government has a clearly defined recruitment and payroll process that every ministry, department and agency must follow before employees can begin receiving salaries from public funds.
According to him, no government agency is permitted to recruit staff or process salary payments without first obtaining the necessary approvals from several statutory institutions.
These include the Federal Character Commission, the Budget Office of the Federation and the Federal Civil Service Commission.
Only after receiving approvals from these bodies can an agency submit staff details for enrolment on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), through which federal workers receive their salaries.
Mokwa stressed that these procedures are mandatory and cannot be bypassed under any circumstances.
“If an agency is granted a waiver to recruit, it must still obtain approvals from the relevant agencies before presenting staff details to the Accountant-General. Without those approvals, not even one employee can be captured on the payroll,” he explained.
He maintained that none of these statutory conditions had been fulfilled by the PFIPC.
According to him, the council neither possessed an operational Central Bank account nor maintained an approved payroll through which salaries or government funds could have been processed.
The clarification comes as investigations continue into the operations of the controversial council, whose existence has generated intense public debate in recent weeks.
The Presidency has consistently maintained that the PFIPC is not a recognised government agency and has accused Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi of orchestrating an elaborate scheme involving alleged forgery and impersonation.
Adeyemi, however, has repeatedly insisted that his appointment was genuine and has maintained that he possesses a valid appointment letter, although he has declined to make further disclosures because the matter is currently before the court.
He is presently facing prosecution before the Federal High Court in Abuja on charges bordering on conspiracy, forgery and impersonation.
The Presidency has also alleged that Adeyemi maintained multiple bank accounts in the names of fictitious government agencies and fraudulently presented himself as the head of a non-existent federal institution.
Meanwhile, the OAGF’s latest clarification seeks to reassure the public that no federal funds were disbursed to the disputed council and that existing financial controls within the government’s payment system prevented any unauthorised release of public money.
By insisting that the account never became operational and that no salaries or budgetary allocations were processed, the Office of the Accountant-General maintains that established financial safeguards functioned effectively throughout the process and prevented the alleged agency from accessing government funds.
