BUHARI MEDIA ORGANISATION REJECTS CLAIMS LATE PRESIDENT CREATED CONTROVERSIAL PFIPC. (PHOTO).

Buhari Media Organisation rejects claims late president created controversial PFIPC

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has dismissed as false allegations that the late President Muhammadu Buhari established the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).

In a statement issued on Sunday, the group clarified that Buhari only set up the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC). It noted that the Presidency has already declared the PFIPC fake and that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is investigating the body.

The clarification followed remarks by the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu, who told the House of Representatives that the PFIPC originated from the PEAC inaugurated by Buhari on 9 October 2019.

Yakubu had said: “PEAC/PFIPC did not enter the 2026 budget merely because it asked for funds. The council had its origin in the Presidential Economic Advisory Council inaugurated during the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari on Oct. 9, 2019.”

The BMO rejected the claim, insisting that the PEAC was strictly an advisory body made up of economists and financial experts under the leadership of Prof. Doyin Salami.

According to the organisation, the PEAC had no dedicated budget line throughout Buhari’s administration. Its activities were funded through specific presidential approvals processed by the Minister of Finance. Council members received no salaries; only office expenses were covered by the Permanent Secretary of the State House after presidential approval.

The BMO further stated that after President Bola Tinubu assumed office in 2023, the Buhari-appointed PEAC was neither dissolved nor reappointed. Its members regarded their appointments as having ended with Buhari’s departure, and the council’s office remained vacant until it was later occupied by others.

The group maintained that any attempt to link the ongoing PFIPC controversy to the Buhari administration is false, groundless and without factual basis.