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The little truths that have been revealed in the unfolding story of Prince Matthew Adeniji’s scandalous creation and running of a fake federal government agency point to the possibility that if something concrete is not done, very soon, a more ambitious con artist may consider the creation and governance of a fake state.
The artist will, like Adeniji, reach out in such a way that his fake state will receive it’s monthly allocations without the knowledge of the Accountant General of the Federation.
As a fake Governor, he will send his state’s federal lawmakers to the National Assembly without the knowledge of the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Of course, the top principal officers of the National Assembly will still relate officially and unofficially with the lawmakers from the fake state.
His Excellency, the Fake Governor, will also personally attend the monthly Federal Executive Council meetings in Aso Rock without the knowledge of Mr. President, his Chief of Staff and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. These topmost officials will of course know and relate with the fake Governor in person but will not be aware, officially, that he is fake.
What is more, there may be a grand attempt to convince Nigerians that the Governor, his fake state and it’s officials emerged and existed without the knowledge of the officials that should know.
I say these because, in the Adeniji matter, the Presidency first gave the impression that the alleged con artist actually created the agency, appointed himself as the director-general and has been processing his regular budgetary and other allocations without the knowledge of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his Chief of Staff and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation – the three top officials common Nigerians thought should be responsible for creation of an agency within the Presidency and for the appointment of a federal government agency’s head.
It was only before the end of the week that the Presidency finally admitted there must be some insider collaborators who made it possible for Adeniji to pull off his intriguing exploits.
This admission, to me, is a good development.
So, I agree wholeheartedly with the Presidency that the starting point in the ongoing investigation should be to expose and prosecute all the insider and outsider collaborators that aided Prince Adeniji to do what he allegedly did.
I submit, therefore, that, unless this is done, and done faithfully, without fear or favour, the trial of Prince Adeniji will amount to another grand comedy and mockery of Nigeria and Nigerians.
Holding this to be a fact, my primary worry today is to know who will force President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to expose all the ‘internal collaborators’ within the Presidency that directly and indirectly aided Prince Adeniji to form and to operate his fake federal agency.
I say this because the story of Prince Adeniji is not only one of the most curious recent news reports about Nigeria’s mega corruption tales, it is one that, if not honestly and boldly handled, will drain the Tinubu administration of its remaining credibility.
It is, to say the least, most brazen to conceive of a government seemingly ready to cover up a story that features intriguing exploits of an alleged con artist, Prince Adeniji, who established a fake Federal Government agency called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) located right at the Presidency and how he operated it successfully for more than three years without detection, collecting regular federal government allocations running into billions of naira, opened a Central Bank of Nigerian (CBN) account and over 30 other bank accounts, which he smiled to month after month!
Until I read that report, I thought no con artist, even in Nigeria, could exceed the courage and audacity of the ones who reportedly made themselves serving or retired Nigerian military generals to loot, intimidate and corruptly enrich themselves.
Besides driving around town, including in and out of military barracks with full convoy and retinue of well kitted and armed bodyguards and security details, these fake generals conduct huge businesses that involve bank transactions and execution of government contracts.
That level of corruption in Nigeria did not start today. It has a notorious history dating back some decades.
For example, in the 1990s, I recall reading in a UK newspaper, a report of one fake Nigerian Army general convicted and jailed abroad for claiming to be a retired general representating the Federal Government of Nigeria in the negotiations of certain deals with foreign countries.
At that time, I thought he got caught only because he became too ambitious and reckless as to have played his dirty game outside Nigeria.
Since then, I had thought the exploits of fake military generals represented the height of corruption Nigerians could reach.
But Adeniji’s story, even before the conclusion of investigations, has shown that so much more has been going on in this country called Nigeria.
We are confronted with the fact that con artists have been robbing the country blind by creating fake agencies of government and organisations through which billions of naira are frittered away regularly.
The reports so far said Adeniji, a private Nigerian citizen, not employed or appointed in any arm of government, simply created the fake government agency located at the Presidency, got an office for his agency inside the Federal Secretariat, got the fake agency’s name included in the Federal Government’s budget lists, defended the budgets at the National Assembly, regularly received government allocations like any real agencies, recruited 300 staff at a time when there is presidential ban on employment, got posh vehicles for operation and held high class meetings with ministers, foreign ambassadors, top security chiefs, including the chairman of the EFCC and other top government officials.
Yes, this is Nigeria where anything can happen!
Like everything Nigeria, this story on Adeniji’s fake presidential agency, provocative as it is, would have ceased to intrigue many Nigerians by now except for the angle that no one in power at first seemed to agree he or she knew how Adeniji pulled off this magic without the authorisation of Mr. President himself or his Chief of Staff and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Considering that these are the authorities that should endorse the creation of such a presidential agency, appoint and sign the appointment letter of a director-general of a federal agency (like the one Prince Matthew Adeniji paraded), approve allocation of an office space at the Federal Secretariat, among others, Nigerians are not ready to let go this Adeniji scandal until, at least, they learn how he fooled these three top federal government officials.
Even if he forged the necessary signatures, Nigerians would want to confirm that while relating with Prince Adeniji, President Tinubu actually forgot there was never a time he appointed the prince as a director-general.
Yes, if as some reports now claim, the fake agency was floated before Tinubu’s Presidency, Nigerians will want it to be put on record that the Tinubu administration, in it’s strict resolve to continue where former President Buhari stopped, never bothered to confirm the genuineness of any agency, organisation or appointment that purported to have originated from the late President Buhari.
If this is the case, it is not impossible there are still many fake agencies through which Nigeria is being sucked dry by con artists and their powerful sponsors inside Aso Rock.
This explains why Nigerians continue to discuss this scandal hoping it would not be swept under the carpet like many other corruption scandals.
This is even more so because the Presidency has finally admitted and confessed that the alleged con man, Adeniji, did not act alone. It said Adeniji has what it described as “internal collaborators.”
The Presidency said this on Friday, when it called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to uncover alleged “internal collaborators who enabled Adeyemi Adeniyi Matthew in the ongoing Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal.”
In a statement on X, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said the alleged “cartel responsible for aiding Adeniyi to operate” the alleged fictitious presidential agency “must be unravelled.”
“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 Presidency said.
With these words, I believe the Presidency has clearly admitted there are insider collaborators within the Presidency who must be fished out to face the music with Adeniji.
In a country that is serious about fighting and defeating corruption, the right step to take after this admission is to ensure the topmost officials at the Presidency are immediately made to step aside, at least temporarily, to ensure the investigation is not hindered.
Anyone that ordinarily have the power and the task of ensuring this kind of corruption does not happen but failed to do it should be a prime suspect and should not be allowed to retain his or her powerful seat while the investigation subsists.
This being the case it sounds curious that spokesman from the Presidency have continued to verbally vindicate the Chief of Staff to the President, Gbajabiamila, even before the commencement of investigation. Is Gbaja not the eyes and hands of Mr President at the Presidency. If he claims not to know how a fake Federal Government Agency operated under his watch, would it be asking for much to ask him to step aside to enable investigators prove his innocence? The same can be said of the SGF, since it would be considered political if someone, at this stage calls on President Tinubu himself to step aside.
As a commentator rightly pointed out during the week, this development can be compared to the Watergate scandal that led to US President Nixon to resign. Nixon’s major offence was just that it was uncovered that he knew of an illegal happenings that was designed to favour his political career.
Since this mega corruption occured right inside Nigerian Presidency, the prime task of the investigators should be to ascertain to Nigerians that their President actually did not know about the formation and use of the fake agency and was therefore not remotely involved in it.
It is also necessary to ascertain that Mr President’s ears, eyes and hands at the Presidency, that is his CoS and the SGF did not also know about the existence and use of this agency until now.
Incidentally, it seems right to say these officials are too powerful to be investigated except they step aside during the pendency of the investigation.
Once these are ascertained, it will become easier to identify and address the aspect of our governance system that made such embarrassing corruption possible.
So, for this government to be taken seriously, it would need to take these steps.
Also, the claim that one Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola, the very person allegedly identified as the link between Adeyemi Adeniji and the purported appointment, died in a hotel fire just five days before Adeniji’s arrest, is an angle that not only sounds mysterious but needs to be better clerified.
Except this Adeniji’s matter is handled with this level of seriousness and openness, more ambitious con artists will soon attempt creation and running of more embarrassing establishments like fake ministries or fake states.
• Samuel Hezekiah Egburonu Esq, lawyer, veteran journalist and literary scholar, is a current affairs analyst.
