The Senate on Wednesday rejected a motion seeking an investigation into the inclusion of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council in the 2026 Appropriation Act, opting instead to await the outcome of an ongoing probe by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
The decision followed a motion raised by Senator Kawu Sumaila, who represents Kano South, over the controversial N1.3bn allocation to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, an agency the Presidency has publicly described as non-existent.
Speaking during plenary, Sumaila argued that the issue raised serious concerns about the integrity of the National Assembly’s appropriation process and its constitutional oversight responsibilities.
He noted that despite the executive’s public disavowal of the agency, the 2026 Appropriation Act allocated N1,302,978,000 to the council under budget code 0111062001.
According to him, the allocation comprised over N800m for personnel costs, more than N200m for overhead expenses and over N300m for capital expenditure.
“The entirety was incorporated in the 2026 Appropriation Act under Code 0111062001 with a budgetary allocation of N1,302,978,000, thereby raising a serious question regarding the integrity of the budget preparation and appropriation process,” Sumaila said.
The senator urged the Senate to mandate its Committees on Ethics, Code of Conduct and Public Petitions, as well as Appropriations, to investigate how the allocation was proposed, scrutinised, justified and approved.
He also sought an inquiry into whether any funds had been released or spent under the budget line and whether any bank account had been opened or operated in relation to the allocation.
However, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, who presided over the plenary, ruled that the matter ought to have been presented as a substantive motion through the Senate Committee on Rules and Business.
Barau also noted that President Bola Tinubu had already directed the ICPC to investigate the controversy, making it unnecessary for the Senate to commence a parallel probe.
“The presidency has taken up this matter by directing that the ICPC should investigate fully how this matter came to be. I believe that what we need to do at this stage is to have the report of the ICPC, and then we can act on that report and deal with it as we feel appropriate,” Barau said.
Following a voice vote, the Senate unanimously adopted Barau’s position, effectively rejecting Sumaila’s request for an immediate investigation pending the conclusion of the ICPC probe.
