The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has dismissed reports that the late President Muhammadu Buhari established the contentious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), characterising the assertion as fake.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the organization stated that Buhari established only the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), not the PFIPC, which the Presidency has deemed false and is currently being investigated by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
The statement came after Tanimu Yakubu, Director-General of the Federation’s Budget Office, told the House of Representatives that the PFIPC originated from Buhari’s Presidential Economic Advisory Council, which he established on October 9, 2019.
Yakubu stated, “PEAC/PFIPC did not join the 2026 budget just because it requested monies. The council grew out of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, which was established on October 9, 2019, during the administration of late President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, the BMO argued that the claim was false. According to the organization, the PEAC was merely an advisory group of economics and financial specialists directed by Prof. Doyin Salami.
The group noted that the PEAC did not have a budget line during Buhari’s presidency. Instead, its activities were funded through presidential approvals overseen by the Minister of Finance.
It also stated that members of the council were not paid salaries, and that “office expenses were paid by the Permanent Secretary, State House, upon approval by the president.”
The BMO also noted that once President Bola Tinubu entered office in 2023, the Buhari-appointed PEAC was not abolished or reappointed.
It stated that the members considered their appointments to have ended when Buhari left office, while the council’s office remained vacant until it was later occupied by others.
The organization argued that reports relating the ongoing PFIPC scandal to the Buhari administration were inaccurate, baseless, and lacked factual support.