Buhari’s minister questions presidency’s defence of Gbajabiamila over fake agency

Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, has criticised the Presidency’s defence of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, over the alleged activities of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, who paraded himself as Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, also referred to in some accounts as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.

THE STAR earlier reported that the Presidency had dismissed the council as fictitious, insisting that Adeyemi forged his appointment letter and ran the outfit without any government recognition.

Reacting to a statement issued by Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, Dalung argued that while the Presidency attempted to clear Gbajabiamila of any wrongdoing, it inadvertently exposed what he described as serious gaps in government oversight.

According to him, even if all allegations against Adeyemi are eventually proven in court, the Presidency still owes Nigerians explanations on how a supposedly fictitious presidential agency allegedly operated within government circles.

Dalung questioned how an individual could allegedly create a fake government agency, forge an appointment letter, operate from the Federal Secretariat, recruit staff, engage government institutions, meet with diplomats and reportedly secure a Central Bank of Nigeria account without detection.

He also raised concerns over reports that the purported agency appeared in the national budget, arguing that budgetary allocations pass through several stages of executive and legislative scrutiny.

“If the council was fake, explain how it entered the budget,” Dalung said, adding that the Presidency failed to address who introduced the budget line, processed it and approved it.

He further queried how office space was allegedly obtained at the Federal Secretariat, asking which authority approved the allocation and why the operation was not detected earlier.

Dalung also pointed to the Presidency’s reference to Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola, whom investigators said Adeyemi identified as the person who helped procure the alleged forged appointment letter before reportedly dying in a hotel fire days before Adeyemi’s arrest.

He questioned whether investigators examined the circumstances surrounding Tanimola’s death, including whether an autopsy, coroner’s inquest or forensic examination of his communications and financial records was carried out.

Giving background to the matter, the Presidency had disclosed that a police probe led by Assistant Commissioner Kabir Mogaji uncovered that Adeyemi operated 34 bank accounts, nine of them registered under fictitious agency names, including the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership.

Investigators further said he used forged documents to fraudulently open a Central Bank of Nigeria account by misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, although officials maintained no government funds were paid into it.

The Presidency also detailed how Adeyemi allegedly drew top government and diplomatic figures into his scheme. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs independently questioned the legitimacy of the agency after Adeyemi convened a meeting with ambassadors in Abuja without the ministry’s knowledge or approval, a gathering held at the Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments in Asokoro on October 10, 2025.

That encounter reportedly triggered a formal inquiry, as the Foreign Affairs Ministry wrote to the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Staff on October 15, 2025, requesting clarification on the status of Adeyemi’s agency.

The matter first came to light, according to the Presidency, after officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission complained that another body appeared to be functioning at cross-purposes with theirs.

Beyond the fake accounts and diplomatic meetings, the Presidency said Adeyemi’s conduct followed a familiar pattern, noting that in November 2016 he had paraded himself as an Ambassador and President-General of the World Youth Organisation, claiming affiliation with the United Nations before the world body denied any such body existed.

Police also filed an eight-count charge against Adeyemi and two others, at large, at the Federal High Court in Abuja, accusing them of conspiracy, forgery of presidential documents and State House letterheads, and impersonation.

Adeyemi, for his part, has alleged that Gbajabiamila collected N400 million through a proxy and demanded a further N200 million, along with 48 per cent of a N27.4 billion take-off grant, claims the Presidency has rejected as the fabrications of an impostor. The case is billed to return to court on July 27.

While acknowledging that the allegations against Adeyemi are before the court, Dalung maintained that accountability should extend beyond prosecuting one individual to explaining how government institutions allegedly interacted with or failed to detect what the Presidency now describes as a fictitious agency.

He called on the Presidency to provide documentary evidence, timelines and records addressing the alleged inclusion of the agency in the budget, its operation within the Federal Secretariat and the apparent failure of institutional safeguards.