Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu has ordered a corruption investigation into allegations that a fictitious government agency, the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), was set up within his own office and secured public funding worth $950,000 (£700,000). The presidency says the letter from the president's chief of staff purportedly creating the body was forged, and police have launched a manhunt for Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, who had been presenting himself as the council's director general, on suspicion of forgery, impersonation and related offences. The case matters because it raises serious questions about how an allegedly bogus entity could acquire the trappings of official legitimacy inside the seat of government.

Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate and report within 30 days, examining forged documents, false claims used to seek recognition, the opening of bank accounts, and any officials or institutions that may have facilitated the scheme. Adeyemi, who has gone into hiding but says he is innocent and fears for his life, claims the council was lawfully established in 2024 to attract foreign investment and accuses senior officials of demanding bribes — allegations the presidency denies. The agency reportedly secured office space in the Federal Secretariat in Abuja and appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a 1.3bn naira allocation, though the Accountant-General's Office says it never held an operational central bank account or received public funds, and civil society groups, opposition politicians and lawyers have demanded an independent inquiry.