‘Phantom’ Council: Internal Collaborators Enabled Adeyemi – Presidency
The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has accused Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew of attempting to exploit public anger about corruption in Nigeria to shield himself from criminal accountability by dragging the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, into his ordeal. The Presidency was reacting […]
The Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has accused Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew of attempting to exploit public anger about corruption in Nigeria to shield himself from criminal accountability by dragging the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, into his ordeal.
The Presidency was reacting to the controversy surrounding the “phantom” Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), which Adeyemi claimed to be the Director-General.
Last month, the Chief of Staff to the President issued a disclaimer intimating Nigerians, foreign missions, financial institutions and other organisations that the Council was not an agency of the Federal Government, denying any appointment of Adeyemi as Director General.
Also on July 1, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, disclosed that Adeyemi had been charged to Court since November 27, 2025, for maintaining 34 bank accounts in the names of fictitious government agencies, describing him as a “con artist” with a history of claiming to be what he is not.
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In a post on his social media platforms, Ajayi argued that the easiest and most believable allegation anyone can throw at a public officer is corruption, adding that “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.”
According Ajayi, “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.”
The President’s aide said operatives from the Department of State Services (DSS), the Police and the Economics and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) had been charged to investigate the full extent of the collaboration that allowed Adeyemi to forge presidential appointment letters and parade himself as the DG of a fictitious Council.
He agreed that many commentators have rightly pointed to the systemic failure that allowed such an elaborate fraudulent scheme to flourish, adding that what is not in doubt is that internal collaborators enabled Adeniyi to get this far.
While acknowledging that systemic failure allowed Adeyemi’s scheme to flourish, Ajayi argued that commentators focused on the failure of detection and overlooked the more important fact that the same system ultimately caught him.
He explained that daredevil “criminals who operate around government institutions with the sole aim of pulling off spectacular heists are common across the world. Some succeed, many fail.”
He further argued that the part many commentators overlooked, however, is how that same system eventually detected the fraud and fished him (Adeyemi) out.
“Contrary to the anything-goes narrative being promoted, it was the system itself that raised the red flag and dealt with it administratively.
“First, officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), the statutory agency responsible for investment promotion, together with officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, identified the anomaly and lodged complaints with the appropriate authorities for clarification.
“That is a system functioning as it should. It is a system capable of detecting an aberration.”
Speaking about collaborators, he said “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.” he added.