The Presidency on Wednesday came under fresh public and legal scrutiny over the activities of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who has been charged with eight counts of conspiracy, forgery and impersonation before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
This is as human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, said the Presidency lacked the constitutional authority to exonerate anyone in the matter and called for an independent probe of both the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila and Adeyemi.
The Police had charged Adeyemi for allegedly operating a fictitious government agency, the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, forging a presidential appointment letter bearing the purported signature of Gbajabiamila, and maintaining 34 bank accounts in the names of non-existent government bodies.
The Presidency, in a statement signed Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, titled ‘Re:The Matter of Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew and the Fictitious Presidential Economic Advisory Council,’ gave an account of the criminal case, including the police investigation report, the charges filed, and what it described as Adeyemi’s long history of fraudulent conduct.
It also warned politicians against using the matter to attack the Chief of Staff.
According to the Presidency, Adeyemi, who had been parading himself as the Director-General of a non-existent body called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, was arrested by the police on October 27, 2025, at his office in the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, after Gbajabiamila formally petitioned the DSS and the Police on October 17, 2025, to investigate what he described as an elaborate forgery and impersonation scheme.
It said the Nigeria Police Force filed an eight-count charge against Adeyemi and two accomplices, identified only as Femi and Anu, who are currently at large, at the Federal High Court on November 27, 2025, under a charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/2025.
The defendants are accused of conspiracy to commit forgery, forgery of presidential appointment documents, forgery of official State House letterheads, forgery of requests for office accommodation and collaboration with government ministries, impersonation as Director-General of the purported council, and forgery of additional official correspondence intended to give legitimacy to the fictitious organisation.
Count Two of the charge stated, “That you, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew, forged an appointment letter purported to have been issued by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, and signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.”
Count Five alleged, “That you falsely personate as the Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council.”
The Presidency said Adeyemi had been on police bail when he recently resurfaced with a fresh claim that Gbajabiamila had appointed him as Director-General of the same fictitious agency, a claim that contradicted his own statement to the police made in November 2024 and prompted the Chief of Staff to issue a public disclaimer on June 8, 2026. He is due in court on July 27, 2026.
According to the Presidency, the case originated from complaints by officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission that another body appeared to be functioning at cross-purposes with it.
Shortly before the Chief of Staff’s petition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had also independently raised concerns after Adeyemi hosted ambassadors at the Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments in Asokoro on October 10, 2025, without any engagement with or notification to the ministry.
In a letter dated October 15, 2025, signed by Anderson Madubuike, the ministry wrote to the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Office of the Chief of Staff requesting clarification.
“This act contravenes extant rules and regulations guiding diplomatic practices globally,” the statement quoted the ministry as stating.
The NSA subsequently wrote to the SGF’s office on October 20, and the SGF’s office wrote to the Chief of Staff on October 29, requesting clarification.
Two days before that letter, however, Gbajabiamila had already sent a rebuttal to the Foreign Affairs Ministry stating that he had never issued any such appointment.
In the petition to security agencies, Gbajabiamila had written: “The attention of this office has been drawn to the activities of certain individuals and groups engaged in the forgery of official appointment letters purportedly issued from my office.
“The fake documents, bearing falsified signatures, reference and folio numbers, and seals, have been used to claim leadership appointments to non-existent entities, with particular reference to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.”
He added: “They have been parading themselves as a legitimate government agency, hosting meetings with both foreigners and Nigerian citizens, and even going so far as to request a Note Verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United States of America to facilitate visas for some of their staff.
“The above development not only constitutes a serious criminal act but also undermines the integrity of the Presidency and the credibility of official government communication.”
In the police investigation, conducted by Assistant Commissioner Kabir Mogaji, officers found that Adeyemi operated 34 bank accounts, nine of them opened in the names of fictitious agencies, including the FCT Investment Promotion Agency, Public Private Partnership and the FCT Investment Promotion Act.
He had also, according to the police, fraudulently opened a Central Bank of Nigeria account by deceiving the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation using forged government documents.
The Presidency said no government money had been transferred into the account.
The police, however, described the action as “a deliberate attempt to infiltrate official financial systems for potential diversion of government funds, money laundering and other financial crimes” and recommended that all 34 identified accounts be frozen pending prosecution.
Police said they executed search warrants at Adeyemi’s office at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Phase III, and his residence at APC Quarters, Suleja, Niger State, recovering forged appointment letters, official letterhead, correspondence addressed to government institutions, photographs and other materials.
Investigators also alleged that Adeyemi wrote to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs soliciting a Note Verbale to the US Embassy to facilitate entry visas for purported staff members, and that three officials from the Office of the Accountant-General confirmed they had been posted to his office in August 2025 but carried out no official duties throughout their time there.
In his statement to the police, Adeyemi had claimed that one Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola assisted him in procuring the forged appointment letter.
When officers went in search of Tanimola, they found that he had died in a fire incident at Kachi Hotel in Utako, Abuja, on October 22, 2025, five days before Adeyemi’s own arrest on October 27.
The Presidency said the police confirmed Tanimola’s death at the morgue through interviews with his relatives, the hotel proprietor, and confirmation from the National Hospital and St Matthew’s Anglican Church, Maitama, regarding his burial.
The Presidency disclosed that Adeyemi’s conduct was not new, saying that in November 2016, he had paraded himself as Ambassador and President-General of the World Youth Organisation, claiming affiliation with the United Nations and asserting he had been elected in New Delhi, India.
Local media celebrated the claim until the United Nations publicly denied the existence of any such body.
“The act of the suspect constitutes criminal forgery, impersonation and obtaining by false pretence, thereby bringing the office of the Chief of Staff to the President and the Presidency to disrepute before the public and international community,” the Presidency quoted the police investigation report as stating.
Onanuga warned against weaponising the matter politically, saying, “Politicians and members of the public who are weaponising Adeyemi’s claim against the Chief of Staff should refrain from swallowing his narrative hook, line and sinker. They are advised to await the trial of Adeyemi and his accomplices, as well as the court’s judgement.”
Meanwhile, Falana, in an interview on Wednesday night, argued that the executive branch was constitutionally incapable of exonerating any of the parties involved and that the full weight of anti-corruption machinery must be allowed to function independently.
Speaking with one of our correspondents, he said, “The Presidency is not in a position to clear anybody. It is the duty of the police and anti-graft agencies to investigate cases of official corruption.
“The Presidency can only refer Femi Gbajabiamila, as well as the other individual, to the ICPC because allegations of fraud and corruption have been raised.”
The senior advocate questioned the financial provisions linked to the purported agency, saying, “The government will have to explain to Nigerians how a whopping sum of N24bn was budgeted for an unknown agency, as well as how that agency had accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
He called for an explanation of how a fictitious body allegedly secured a CBN account and attracted a budget line.
Adeyemi, who reportedly addressed a press conference on Thursday, accused the Chief of Staff to the President, Gbajabiamila, of making contradictory statements regarding the existence of the PFIPC and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
He called for an independent investigation into the activities of the two agencies, while alleging that Gbajabiamila received N400m through a proxy and demanded an additional N200m to secure his appointment.
Adeyemi also alleged that the dispute between himself and the Chief of Staff stemmed from Gbajabiamila’s demand for 48 per cent of the PFIPC’s N27.4bn take-off grant, a request he said he (Adeyemi) rejected.
“The major rationale behind the disagreement between myself and the chief of staff is that he allegedly requested 48 per cent of the take-off grant (N27,395,510,136) from the same agency, which he denies, which I rejected after he collected a total sum of 400m by proxy, with a remaining balance of N200m to secure the said appointment,” he explained.
Adeyemi revealed that he was compelled to speak following what he described as attempts to misrepresent him and suppress questions surrounding the agency.
He noted that if the PFIPC did not exist, as stated in Gbajabiamila’s disclaimer on June 11, the government should explain how references to the agencies allegedly appeared on pages 50 and 51 of the 2026 Appropriation Act.
He appealed to President Bola Tinubu to establish an independent investigative panel to examine the issues raised. The panel, he prayed, should investigate the circumstances surrounding Tanimola’s death, review alleged assassination attempts against him, examine official documents connected with the disputed agencies, review budgetary references and institutional records, question relevant public officials and publish its findings transparently.
He also insisted that Gbajabiamila step aside during investigations.
Wednesday’s statement marked the second time since June 11 that the Presidency publicly distanced itself from Adeyemi.
The first disclaimer, signed by Gbajabiamila on that date, alerted the public, foreign missions, financial institutions and multilateral organisations that neither the council nor any appointment made under its name had any official standing under the Tinubu administration.
