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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Presidency has accused Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew of masterminding an elaborate fraud by posing as the director-general of a non-existent government body and using forged documents to impersonate officials and solicit diplomatic favours.
A statement issued by Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, yesterday, said the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila first alerted security agencies after complaints from the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council that another organisation appeared to be operating at cross‑purposes with it.
“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 statement recalled the Chief of Staff wrote in an October 17 petition to the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force. The petition included a copy of a forged appointment letter, a request for a note verbale to the United States Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and photographs taken from the group’s website, the statement said.
According to the Presidency, the group operated under the name “Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council cum Presidential Economic Advisory Council,” with an office allegedly at the Federal Secretariat Complex Phase III. The impersonators reportedly held meetings with foreign and Nigerian nationals and sought a note verbale to facilitate visas for 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,” Chief of Staff wrote, urging a full probe to “identify and apprehend those involved and also to uncover the network facilitating the forgery.”
The Foreign Affairs Ministry alerted national security organs earlier, the Presidency said, after Adeyemi met with ambassadors at the Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments in Asokoro on October 10, 2025 without notifying the ministry. “This act contravenes extant rules and regulations guiding diplomatic practices globally,” Ambassador Anderson Madubuike wrote to the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Staff on October 15, 2025.
The statement noted further that Police investigators moved quickly after the Chief of Staff’s petition. Officers arrested Adeyemi at the Secretariat office where he is said to have run the operation on October 27, 2025. Searches of the office and his home in Suleja recovered documents the police described as “vital exhibits.”
In a statement to police, Adeyemi implicated one Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola as having helped procure the forged appointment letter. The police later established that Tanimola died in a fire at Kachi Hotel in Abuja on October 22, 2025; officers viewed the body at the morgue, the statement said.
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Police investigators concluded that the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council was fictitious, that Adeyemi forged his appointment letter and other documents, and that he falsely claimed government status to seek diplomatic facilitation. The force also alleges Adeyemi operated 34 bank accounts, nine of them in the names of invented entities such as the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Public Private Partnership (FIPA-APP), and that he used forged paperwork to open a CBN account by misleading the Office of the Accountant‑General of the Federation. The police said no government funds were deposited into that account.
“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,” Assistant Commissioner Kabir Mogaji wrote in the police investigation report cited by the Presidency.
The statement added that based on the probe, the police filed an eight‑count charge against Adeyemi and two alleged accomplices at the Federal High Court in Abuja on November 27, 2025. Adeyemi is due back in court on July 27, 2026, the statement said.
While on police bail, Adeyemi reportedly told media outlets that the Chief of Staff had appointed him as director‑general of the purported council — a claim the Presidency said directly contradicts his earlier statement to police. The Chief of Staff issued a fresh disclaimer on June 8, 2026 reiterating that Adeyemi is an impostor and unknown to the presidency.
“The Office of the Chief of Staff does not make appointments or write letters, as these are the exclusive preserve of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” the Chief of Staff wrote in previous correspondence cited by the Presidency. On November 5, 2025, he again denied any dealings with Adeyemi or recognition of the claimed council, instructing security agencies to investigate.
The Presidency’s statement painted Adeyemi as a serial fabulist. It recalls that in November 2016 he presented himself as an ambassador and president‑general of a supposed World Youth Organisation (WYO) said to be affiliated with the United Nations, a claim later repudiated by the UN.
“Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew is a clear case of a con artist who appears to have built a web of false claims to deceive unsuspecting government officials and the public into playing by his scam book,” the statement said.
The Presidency urged politicians and members of the public to refrain from weaponising Adeyemi’s recent assertions against the Chief of Staff, warning that such commentary is sub judice while the matter remains before the courts.
