Buhari never created ‘fake agency,’ Media organisation counters budget office

By Musa Baba Adamu

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has rejected claims that late former President Muhammadu Buhari created the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), insisting that the former president only established the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC).
In a statement issued on Sunday, the organisation described as false reports linking Buhari to the agency currently under investigation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The rebuttal followed comments by the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, who told the House of Representatives that the PFIPC traced its institutional origin to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council inaugurated by Buhari on October 9, 2019.
Yakubu had also explained that the agency found its way into the 2026 budget because of that historical linkage.
However, the Buhari Media Organisation maintained that PEAC was a purely advisory body and not a government agency with a statutory budget.
According to the organisation, the council operated from offices within the Federal Secretariat and had no dedicated budget line, with its activities funded only through presidential approvals handled by the Ministry of Finance.
It explained that PEAC was a part-time advisory body chaired by Prof. Doyin Salami and comprised respected economists and financial experts, including Prof. Mahmuda Sagagi, Prof. Ode Ojowu, Dr. Shehu Yahaya, Dr. Iyabo Masha, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Mr. Bismarck Rewane and Dr. Mohammed Salisu.
The group noted that members of the council received no salaries, while only office expenses were covered through approvals by the President and processed by the Permanent Secretary, State House.
It further stated that the Tinubu administration neither reappointed nor formally dissolved the council after assuming office in 2023, adding that its members regarded their appointments as having ended with the expiration of the Buhari administration.
The organisation dismissed suggestions that the alleged fictitious agency originated under Buhari, insisting that reports making such claims were false, baseless and unsupported by facts.