The Senate on Wednesday rejected a proposal to launch a comprehensive investigation into the controversial N1.3 billion budgetary allocation to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), saying the Executive was already investigating the matter.
The proposed probe was sponsored by Senator Suleiman Kawu (APC, Kano South), who raised the issue during plenary under Order 9 and Rule 9(c) of the Senate Standing Orders (2026).
Presenting a motion titled, “Urgent Need to Investigate the Budgetary Allocation, Operations, and Controversy Surrounding the Purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) to Safeguard the Integrity of the Senate and the Federal Government,” Kawu argued that the controversy surrounding the council had raised serious concerns about the integrity of the National Assembly and the credibility of the federal budget process.
He told lawmakers that the allegations and counter-allegations over the council had cast doubts on the Senate’s constitutional responsibilities relating to appropriation and oversight.
“The Senate notes with concern that, in recent weeks, the public space has been inundated with allegations, controversies, accusations and counter-accusations concerning an entity known as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC),” he said.
The senator urged the upper chamber to condemn what he described as administrative failures, internal collusion or fraudulent acts that allegedly enabled a purportedly non-existent or unauthorised agency, listed under Budget Code 0111062001, to be included in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
He also proposed that the Senate Committees on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, as well as Appropriations, be mandated to investigate the circumstances surrounding the council’s inclusion in the budget.
According to Kawu, the investigation should determine how the sum of N1,302,978,784 was proposed, scrutinised, justified and eventually approved during the appropriation process.
He further sought an inquiry into the ministries, departments and agencies, public officials or other individuals responsible for facilitating the inclusion of the PFIPC in the national budget, as well as whether any funds had been released, committed or spent under the budget line.
The motion also requested an investigation into whether any bank accounts had been opened or operated in connection with the allocation.
However, after the motion was presented, Deputy President of the Senate Barau Jibrin, who presided over the session, ruled against opening a separate Senate investigation.
Jibrin noted that President Bola Tinubu had already directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the controversy.
He advised lawmakers to allow the Executive to complete its investigation before the Senate considered any further action.
The PFIPC has been at the centre of public controversy after it emerged as a beneficiary of a N1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act despite the Presidency insisting that no such agency exists under the Federal Government.
President Tinubu subsequently ordered the ICPC to investigate how the council was included in the national budget and directed that anyone found culpable should be identified and prosecuted in accordance with the law.