The presidency has claimed that there are internal collaborators enabling Prince Matthew Adeniyi who operated the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), in the smear campaign against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
It called on the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to unmask the internal criminal elements working with Prince Matthew Adeniyi to operate a fictitious presidential agency for prosecution.
A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, through his verified X handle, @TheTope_Ajayi, said dismantling the internal network that sustained Adeyemi’s activities is now the most critical task before investigators.
It accused Adeniyi of being an “irredeemable con artist” who is expertly exploiting Nigerian public psychology regarding corruption to shield himself from criminal accountability by dragging the name of the Chief of Staff into his multi-billion-naira fraudulent enterprise.
Ajayi disclosed that the DSS and EFCC had been tasked with unraveling the full extent of the collaboration that allowed Adeniyi to forge presidential appointment letters, maintain 34 bank accounts in the names of fictitious government bodies, host foreign ambassadors and open a Central Bank account, all while parading himself as the director-general of a non-existent body called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.
According to him, “What is not in doubt is that internal collaborators enabled Adeniyi to get this far. That is precisely what investigators from the DSS, the Police and the EFCC must now unravel.
“The criminal network within the affected institutions must be dismantled and everyone found to have played a role should be arrested and prosecuted.”
The presidential aide further wrote: “In Nigeria, the easiest and most believable allegation anyone can throw at a public officer is corruption. Once that accusation is thrown into the mix, the water is polluted, the lines are blurred and everyone is kept busy arguing over distractions rather than the real issues.
“Matthew Adeniyi understands Nigerian public psychology and he is exploiting it expertly to shield himself. He is an irredeemable con artist who is attempting to drag the name of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, into his criminal enterprise. The Chief of Staff is simply his last straw.”
According to the Presidency, while several commentators had questioned how such an elaborate scheme could have operated for so long, they failed to acknowledge that government institutions themselves eventually uncovered the irregularities.
It explained that officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), working with officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, first detected inconsistencies relating to the suspect’s operations and formally reported the matter to the appropriate authorities.
That development, the Presidency said, demonstrated that institutional checks within government were functional and capable of identifying and responding to fraudulent activities.
“Contrary to the anything-goes narrative being promoted, it was the system itself that raised the red flag and dealt with it administratively,” Ajayi stated.
While acknowledging that the suspect had managed to operate for an extended period, the Presidency insisted that such longevity could only have been made possible through the assistance of collaborators embedded within relevant public institutions.
It therefore urged investigators to focus on exposing the broader criminal network rather than limiting their investigation to the principal suspect.
“What is not in doubt is that internal collaborators enabled Adeyemi to get this far. That is precisely what investigators from the DSS, the Police and the EFCC must now unravel.
“The criminal network within the affected institutions must be dismantled and everyone found to have played a role should be arrested and prosecuted,” he said.
The Presidency maintained that rather than portraying the incident as evidence of institutional complicity at the highest levels of government, the facts showed that the system itself exposed and halted the alleged fraud while law enforcement agencies continue their investigations.
Top Society recalls that Gbajabiamila had on June 11, 2026, issued a public disclaimer alerting the public, foreign missions, financial institutions and multilateral organisations that the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council had no official standing and that no appointment had been made under its name.
On July 1, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, revealed that Adeniyi had been charged with eight criminal counts at the Federal High Court since November 27, 2025; that he maintained 34 bank accounts in the names of fictitious government agencies; that he had fraudulently opened a CBN account by deceiving the Accountant-General’s office; and that the key witness who allegedly procured his forged appointment letter died in a hotel fire five days before Adeniyi’s own arrest on October 27, 2025.
But human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, challenged the Presidency, saying it lacked the constitutional authority to exonerate any party in the matter and calling for the ICPC to independently investigate both Gbajabiamila and Adeniyi.
Falana also demanded an explanation for how N24bn was allegedly budgeted for the non-existent agency and how it succeeded in opening a CBN account.
Adeniyi is due before the Federal High Court in Abuja on July 27, 2026, alongside two accomplices who are still at large.
The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) yesterday called for the immediate sack of Gbajabiamila as the Chief of Staff to the President over allegations linking him to a purported corruption scandal involving a non-existent government agency and the alleged sale of public appointments.
The opposition party, in a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Osa Director, said the allegations surrounding the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council raised serious concerns about transparency, accountability and governance under the Tinubu administration.
The party said it was inconceivable that an agency which the Presidency had publicly declared non-existent could allegedly open multiple financial accounts at the apex bank.
“It is deeply troubling that an agency the Presidency claims does not exist could operate high-level financial accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria. The Presidency owes Nigerians an urgent explanation,” the statement said.
The opposition party further referenced allegations by Adeyemi that he secured his appointment through the Chief of Staff after allegedly paying N600 million, out of which N400 million was allegedly delivered through proxies, while a balance of N200 million remained outstanding.
The statement also cited allegations that Gbajabiamila demanded 48 per cent of the agency’s take-off grant, estimated at N27.4 billion; a claim that allegedly led to a dispute between both men.
The NDC described the allegations as grave and indicative of what it called “a disturbing pattern of institutionalised corruption and the sale of appointments to the highest bidders.”
The party also raised concerns over the death of Mr. Babatunde Tanimola, who was said to have acted as an intermediary between Adeyemi and the Chief of Staff. Tanimola reportedly died in a fire incident at a hotel in Utako, Abuja, on October 22, 2025, a day after a petition involving the matter was allegedly received by the police.
It also noted claims by Adeyemi that there had been multiple attempts on his life, including an alleged attack along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway on September 7, 2025.
