Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has linked the controversy surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) recent disclosure that Nigeria left out public expenditure equivalent to two per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from recent budgets.
In a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the IMF report, coming amid the ongoing PFIPC scandal, raises serious concerns about the management of public finances under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
According to him, the two developments suggest a pattern of weak accountability and opaque financial practices within government institutions.
Citing Section 80 of the Constitution, Atiku stressed that no public funds should be spent without approval from the National Assembly.
“If the IMF is correct that expenditure equivalent to two per cent of Nigeria’s GDP was kept outside the budget, Nigerians deserve to know what happened to the money,” he said.
He argued that the issue goes beyond an accounting error, describing it as a constitutional and moral question that requires answers.
“Money does not simply disappear from government accounts. Someone approved the spending, someone authorised it, someone benefited from it, and Nigerians have the right to know who was responsible,” he said.
The former vice president also said the IMF’s findings strengthen concerns that the PFIPC controversy may not have been an isolated incident but part of a wider problem in public financial management.
He questioned how an agency that the Presidency has since described as non-existent reportedly secured about ₦1.3 billion in the 2026 budget, while critical sectors such as healthcare allegedly struggled to access appropriated funds.
According to Atiku, reports indicating that the Federal Ministry of Health received only ₦36 million out of more than ₦218 billion budgeted for key health interventions reflect what he described as misplaced priorities.
He further maintained that government institutions could not have officially recognised the PFIPC without authorisation from the Presidency.
Atiku called on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, to explain how the agency was recognised and granted official status.
He also referred to allegations made by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the central figure in the PFIPC controversy, who claimed the dispute began after he allegedly refused a demand for a 48 per cent kickback from the agency’s proposed ₦27.3 billion take-off grant.
Describing the allegations as too serious to be dismissed with official statements, Atiku called for an independent and transparent investigation.
“If the allegations are false, the government should clear the air through an open investigation. If they are true, everyone involved, regardless of position, must face the law,” he said.
He urged the Auditor-General of the Federation, the Public Accounts Committees of the National Assembly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate both the IMF disclosure and the PFIPC affair.
According to Atiku, Nigerians deserve full accountability over public spending, insisting that every expenditure should be properly traced and justified.
