New documents show that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, OSGF, approved a disowned official to represent Nigeria at a fintech summit abroad.
That official, Adeniyi Adeyemi, headed a body called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC, which the Presidency says never lawfully existed.
The document, signed by Engr. Nadungu Gagare, Permanent Secretary of the OSGF’s Political and Economic Affairs Office, cleared Adeyemi to join Nigeria’s delegation to the Canada-Africa Fintech Summit from August 3 to 8, 2025.
“In accordance with Mr President’s Economic Strategies on the Agenda, I invite you to participate in and join the Nigerian delegation to Canada,” the document read.
“This initiative will significantly contribute to shaping our economic vision, advancing development priorities, strengthening economic ties, fostering bilateral trade relations, and attracting foreign direct investment, FDI, to benefit the Nigerian economy,” it added.
The revelation lands as former Vice President Atiku Abubakar slams President Bola Tinubu’s government over what he calls a recurring pattern of scandal, and as the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, presses the National Assembly to disclose how the council landed ₦1,302,978,784 in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
The Presidency insists Adeyemi forged letters and invented the council entirely, and it has asked the DSS, the police and the EFCC to prosecute anyone inside government who allegedly helped him.
How Adeyemi Built A Fake Presidential Council
A forged appointment letter bearing a falsified signature of Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila reportedly cleared Civil Service Headquarters without proper checks.
That single document secured Adeyemi an office at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, giving his invented council the look of a real government body for more than a year.
Another new media – The PUNCH, said its sources inside the Presidency and civil service, told it on condition of anonymity, that Nigeria’s real appointment chain runs from the President through the SGF, never through the Chief of Staff alone.
“The Chief of Staff has never appointed anyone at that level. All DGs and Permanent Secretaries, their appointments are from the President,” one Presidency source said.
Once Adeyemi held that office, the fraud reportedly became self-sustaining: a letterhead, a website and a physical address at the Secretariat conferred instant credibility.
“Once he established that office at the Federal Secretariat, every other thing followed. Nobody tried to do the needful anymore until someone raised the alarm,” a civil service official said.
Officials at the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission first flagged the scheme in October last year, after noticing the fictitious council overlapping their own mandate.
Gbajabiamila then reportedly alerted the DSS himself, insisting he had never met Adeyemi, and the case led to an arrest and arraignment before losing momentum until it resurfaced this June.
The ₦1.3 Billion Allocation SERAP Wants Explained
The PFIPC, also referenced as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council in budget records, received over ₦1.3 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
The PUNCH gathered that the allocation entered the budget through a group entry from the Presidency, bypassing a standalone defence before the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service.
“It was not brought in as a stand-alone item. It was done collectively with others that came in directly from the Presidency. So there was no defence or oversight,” a National Assembly source said.
SERAP, in a Freedom of Information request dated July 4, 2026, pressed Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas to release certified records of who approved the funding line.
“Nigerians have a right to know whether public funds were appropriated for an entity that was not lawfully established and, if so, how this occurred,” SERAP said, citing constitutional oversight powers under sections 88 and 89.
The organisation gave lawmakers seven days to respond before pursuing legal action.
The Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA, echoed that demand, with chairman Olanrewaju Suraju calling for a full public inquiry into who proposed the line and whether any funds were released.
Gbajabiamila Dispute Splits Reaction
The scandal has widened into a direct clash between Adeyemi, now identified in some accounts as Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, and the Chief of Staff.
Matthew alleges Gbajabiamila solicited financial payments to secure his appointment, then made further demands during his time at the council.
The Presidency instead describes Matthew as an impostor who somehow obtained office space, staff and CBN-registered accounts, and who transacted with agencies including the EFCC.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says that explanation only deepens the mystery rather than resolving it.
“The Presidency cannot escape accountability by choosing between corruption and incompetence,” PDP spokesman Ini Ememobong said.
The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights has called on Gbajabiamila to step aside voluntarily pending an independent probe, while senior lawyers Bankole Akomolafe and Sampson Erugo have dismissed calls to charge him without concrete evidence.
“Mere allegations are not enough,” Akomolafe said.
What Comes Next For Adeyemi’s Case
Adeyemi is due before the Federal High Court in Abuja on July 27, 2026, alongside two accomplices identified only as Femi and Anu, who remain at large.
The Senate is expected to address the ₦1.3 billion controversy directly when plenary resumes this Tuesday.
Atiku, through his aide Phrank Shaibu, says the pattern of scandal has become the story itself.
“The issue is no longer one scandal or another. The issue is the pattern. And when scandals become a pattern of governance, the inevitable conclusion is this: you are no longer managing scandals; you have become the scandal itself,” he said.
For now, Nigerians are left waiting on two fronts: a courtroom verdict on the man behind the fake council, and a National Assembly answer on how his budget line ever made it past the gatekeepers meant to stop it.
WhatsApp Channel
Telegram Channel
