SPOTTED: Council Gbaja claims doesn’t exist was allocated N1.3bn in 2026 budget

On June 11, Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu, issued a public disclaimerdisowning the appointment of Adeniyi Adeyemi as the head of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council. 

“It has come to the notice of the Federal Government of Nigeria and specifically the Office of the Chief of Staff to His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR that a certain Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, under the auspices of an alleged organisation styled as the ‘Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’ is portraying himself to the general public as having been appointed by my office,” Gbajabiamila said.

The former speaker of the house of representatives said such an office “does not exist” under Tinubu’s government, and no appointment has been made in that regard.

He urged foreign missions, development organisations, financial institutions and the public to disregard claims linking the council to the presidency.

But speaking at a press conference on Thursday in Abuja, Adeyemi rejected Gbajabiamila’s claim, describing it as a glaring contradiction in official government records.

Adeyemi said the council operated accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), maintained office space at the federal secretariat, and received approval for more than 300 staff from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

According to him, if those records exist, they would be difficult to reconcile with the presidency’s position that the council has no legal or administrative existence.

Adeyemi asked Tinubu to constitute an independent investigative panel to review all official records relating to the council and examine how it features in government documents.

WHAT THE 2026 APPROPRIATION ACT SHOWS 

A review of the 2026 Appropriation Act indicates that the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council is expressly listed under the presidency, with a total budget of N1,302,978,784.

The allocation includes N802,978,783 for personnel costs, N200,000,001 for overhead expenditure and N300,000,000 for capital projects. (TheCable)