The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) has contradicted an earlier claim by the Presidency that the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) fraudulently opened an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), insisting that no such account was ever operational.

The latest clarification introduces a fresh dimension to the controversy surrounding the PFIPC, a body the Presidency has repeatedly described as non-existent despite its inclusion in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budgetary allocation of about N1.3 billion.

The contradiction emerged after the Presidency, through the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated that investigations by the police found that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who presented himself as the Director-General of the PFIPC, used forged documents to fraudulently open a CBN account by misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

According to Onanuga, although the account was allegedly opened, no government funds were transferred into it.

The statement formed part of the Presidency's response to allegations linking the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, to the PFIPC saga, as it sought to absolve him of any wrongdoing.

However, speaking on Monday, Director of Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, dismissed the suggestion that the council had a CBN account, explaining that the process never progressed beyond the application stage.

According to Mokwa, the application to open the account was initiated after Adeyemi presented what appeared to be an appointment letter linked to an existing government agency.

He said the process, however, stalled because the names of authorised signatories required to activate the account were never submitted.

"The account has not seen the light of day. It has not received one kobo because it was never fully activated. The Accountant-General has not released any money because there is no operational account for such payment," Mokwa said.

He stressed that without an operational account, it was impossible for any government allocation to be paid to the council.

The OAGF also rejected claims that salaries had been paid to staff of the PFIPC.

Mokwa explained that government agencies cannot recruit personnel or process salary payments without obtaining approvals from the Federal Character Commission, the Budget Office and the Federal Civil Service Commission before employees can be enrolled on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

He maintained that none of those statutory requirements had been fulfilled by the PFIPC, insisting that the council neither had an approved payroll nor an operational account through which public funds could have been disbursed.

While acknowledging that the PFIPC appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act, Mokwa noted that the inclusion of an organisation in the budget does not automatically translate into the release of funds.

"The existence of a budgetary allocation does not mean money has been released," he said.

The OAGF's position differs from the earlier account given by the Presidency. While the Presidency maintained that Adeyemi successfully opened a CBN account through fraudulent means, the Accountant-General's office insists the account-opening process was never completed and that no operational account ever existed.