….alleges ₦200 million bribe demand by lawmakers

Former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, has questioned how Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-acclaimed Director-General of the alleged non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), gained access to the Presidential Villa and senior government officials.

Dalung raised the concern in a post on his 𝕏 account, where he shared a photograph showing Adeyemi alongside Vice President Kashim Shettima and other top government officials.

Reacting to the image, the former minister queried the level of access allegedly enjoyed by Adeyemi despite claims that the agency he represented did not exist.

Solomon Dalung

“What can you see? Should we also ask how the DG of the fake Federal Agency accessed the State House and enjoyed this level of proximity to the seat of power?” Dalung wrote.

His comments come after Adeyemi was arrested following a warrant issued by Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Adeyemi is expected to face an eight-count charge in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CR/562/2025 bordering on alleged forgery, fraud and impersonation.

Although the case was listed for arraignment, the defendant did not appear in court despite his lawyer, Genesis Francis, announcing his appearance before the judge.

Dalung alleges ₦200 million bribe demand

In a separate development, Dalung has alleged that members of the National Assembly demanded a ₦200 million bribe from him during his first budget defence as minister under the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Speaking in a statement reflecting on his time in office, the former minister described the incident as one of his earliest encounters with what he termed entrenched corruption within Nigeria’s public institutions.

According to Dalung, the alleged demand was made shortly after he presented the budget proposal of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development before lawmakers.

He claimed members of the committee requested ₦200 million despite the ministry having no budgetary provision for such a payment.

“I looked through the budget documents before me and replied that I had not seen any budget line titled ‘bribe.’ I told the committee that since no such provision existed in the ministry’s appropriation, I had no idea where they expected me to obtain ₦200 million,” he said.

Dalung alleged that his response effectively ended his participation in the meeting.

According to him, lawmakers subsequently excused him from the session and informed him that further discussions would continue with the ministry’s Permanent Secretary.

“They simply told me, ‘Okay, Mr Minister, you are excused. We will take it up with the Permanent Secretary,'” he recalled.

The former minister further claimed that after the incident, his involvement in subsequent budget defence exercises was significantly reduced.

He said he was thereafter only required to present a general overview of the ministry’s budget before being excused, while detailed deliberations allegedly continued behind closed doors between lawmakers and senior ministry officials.

Dalung also alleged that the practice extended beyond the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

According to him, some ministers particularly those considered to have close ties with the Presidency allegedly complied with similar demands to facilitate the smooth passage of their budget proposals.

He argued that legislative oversight, which is constitutionally intended to ensure transparency and accountability, had in some instances been transformed into a means of personal enrichment.

Dalung maintained that when oversight responsibilities are influenced by illicit financial interests, accountability in public administration is weakened, public resources are more easily diverted, and citizens’ confidence in government institutions is eroded.

He further claimed that recurring corruption scandals involving ministries, departments and agencies have persisted partly because some institutions entrusted with oversight have allegedly become compromised.