General
Presidential Economic Advisory Council: Presidency Backs Gbajabiamila, Disowns Adeyemi
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The presidency has thrown its weight behind Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, over the controversy surrounding the fictitious Presidential Economic Advisory Council, which Mr Adeyemi Adeniyi Matthew said he heads as the Director General.
Mr Adeyemi claimed he gave Mr Gbajabiamila about N400 million to pay a balance of N200 million to secure the council’s job. He further alleged that he was asked to part with 48 per cent of an allocation to his office.
While Mr Gbajabiamila dissociated himself from the council, it was found out that the organisation had a budgetary allocation under the presidency.
Reacting to this issue, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, in a statement on Wednesday, absolved Mr Gbajabiamila from the fraud.
Below is the full statement;
We are aware of the public interest in the matter of a man called Adeyemi Adeniyi Matthew, who has been parading himself as the director-general of a fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council cum Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
The office of the Chief of Staff to the President first blew the whistle on the existence of the illegal agency, following complaints from officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council that another government agency appeared to be functioning at cross-purposes with it.
The Chief of Staff, on October 17, in a letter, asked the DSS and the Police to probe the activities of ‘fraudsters and imposters’ forging appointment letters purportedly from his office.
“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 fake documents, bearing falsified signatures, reference/folio numbers, and seals, have been used to claim leadership appointments to non-existent entities, with particular reference to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.
“The aforementioned entity under the leadership of one Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew as Director-General is said to have an office at the Federal Secretariat Complex Phase 111, 2nd Floor. Also, they have been parading themselves as a legitimate government agency, hosting meetings with both foreigners and Nigerian citizens, and even going so far as to request a note verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the United States of America to facilitate visas for some of their 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.
“I therefore urge you to initiate a thorough investigation to identify and apprehend those involved and also to uncover the network facilitating the forgery,” the Chief of Staff wrote in his petition to the security agencies.
The letter to the security agencies was accompanied by a copy of the forged appointment letter, a copy of the request for a note verbal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and pictures of engagements obtained from the illegal agency’s website.
Around the time the Chief of Staff lodged the complaint with the security agencies, the existence of the fake agency had raised concerns within the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
In a letter on October 15, 2025, the Foreign Affairs Ministry wrote to the office of the National Security Adviser and the Chief of Staff to the President, requesting clarification on the status of Adeyemi’s agency. The letter, which Ambassador Anderson Madubuike signed, followed Adeyemi’s October 10 meeting with ambassadors at the Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments in Asokoro, without recourse to the ministry.
“This act contravenes extant rules and regulations guiding diplomatic practices globally,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its letter.
On October 20, the Office of the National Security Adviser wrote to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, on the request of the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
On 29 October, the OSGF wrote to the Chief of Staff requesting clarification. “This has become expedient owing to several requests from governmental and non-governmental bodies seeking to ascertain the status of the appointment under consideration”
Two days earlier, the Chief of Staff sent his own clear rebuttal to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, stating that he had never issued an appointment letter to Adeyemi as director general of the fake presidential foreign investment promotion council. The Chief of Staff could not have issued a letter of appointment to a non-existent agency. Moreover, the Chief of Staff does not make appointments or write letters, as these are the exclusive preserve of the Office of the Secretary of the Government of the Federation.
On November 5, 2025, the Chief of Staff responded to the OSGF, again flatly denying Adeniyi Adeyemi and his spurious agency. “Prince Adeniyi Matthew, director-general of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, is unknown to any office, nor do we have any dealings with the said council.
“My attention was drawn to a letter of this purported application, which is fake, and my office has instructed the police and other relevant security agencies to carry out investigations on the person and the entity he claims to represent”, the chief of staff wrote.
The Police made the first move by responding to the chief of staff’s letter dated 17 October and began their investigation. On 27 October, Adeyemi was arrested in Abuja at the Secretariat office where he operated his elaborate scam.
The police searched the office and Adeyemi’s home in Suleja, recovering vital documents and exhibits. In Adeyemi’s statement to the police, he claimed that one Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola assisted him in procuring the fake appointment letter. Following his claim, the police went after the said Tanimola. The Police found that Tanimola died in a fire incident at Kachi Hotel in Abuja on 22 October, five days before Adeyemi’s arrest. Tanimola’s body was seen by the police at the morgue, confirming the death.
The police were able to establish that the agency Adeyemi purportedly headed was fictitious, that he forged his appointment letter and the documents recovered in his office and home, that he falsely paraded himself as a government appointee, and that he falsely solicited a note verbal from the Foreign Affairs Ministry to enable him and his staff to obtain US visas. The police also found that Adeyemi operated 34 bank accounts, with nine opened in the names of his fictitious agencies, known as the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Public Private Partnership (FIPA-APP), and the FCT Investment Promotion Act.
The Police found that Adeyemi, using the fake documents he created, fraudulently opened a CBN account by misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. According to the police, no government money has been transferred into the 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”, the police wrote in the report of the investigation conducted by the assistant commissioner, Kabir Mogaji.
Based on their investigations, the police filed an eight-count charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja against Adeyemi and two of his accomplices on November 27, 2025. He is due in court on July 27.
Adeyemi was on police bail when he recently claimed that the Chief of Staff had appointed him as DG of the fictitious agency. This claim contradicted his statement to the police in November last year. His new claim prompted the Chief of Staff, on June 8, to issue a disclaimer consistent with earlier advisories that the man, called Adeyemi, is an impostor.
The case of 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. He has a history of fraudulent misrepresentation. In November 2016, he paraded himself as an ambassador and President-General of the World Youth Organisation (WYO), an affiliate of the United Nations (UN). He claimed to have been elected in New Delhi, India. The local media celebrated him until the UN denied the existence of such a body.
Politicians and members of the public who are weaponising Adeyemi’s claim against the Chief of Staff should refrain from swallowing his narrative hook, line and sinker. They are advised to await the trial of Adeyemi and his accomplices, as well as the court’s judgement, as comments made today are sub judice.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill has extended the deadline for the submission of memoranda and position papers on the proposed legislation to Friday, August 21, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. West Africa Time.
In a statement signed by the Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the Presidential Working Group, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, the group said the extension was intended to ensure that interested individuals, institutions and organisations have adequate opportunity to make substantive contributions to the proposed legislation.
“The Presidential Working Group is committed to ensuring that the process of developing the National Policing Bill benefits from broad consultation and the informed perspectives of Nigerians and relevant stakeholders,” the statement read.
The proposed legislation is intended to provide the operational, administrative, institutional and funding framework necessary for an effective policing architecture that responds to Nigeria’s evolving security needs, while providing appropriate safeguards for accountability, professionalism and the protection of citizens’ rights.
“Given the significance of the proposed reform to the future of policing and internal security in Nigeria, the Working Group considers it important that stakeholders are afforded more opportunity to make substantive and technically sound contributions to the process,” the statement said.
The former lawmaker said legal practitioners, civil society organisations, security sector professionals, state governments, professional bodies, academics, experts and interested members of the public are encouraged to take advantage of the extended window to submit their memoranda and position papers, exclusively through the official National Policing Bill portal, nationalpolicingbill.com, on or before the new deadline.
According to him, developing an effective policing framework required careful consideration of a number of critical issues, including sustainable funding, command and control structures, recruitment and training standards, operational jurisdiction, inter-agency coordination, accountability mechanisms and safeguards against political interference or abuse.
“These considerations underscore the importance of robust stakeholder engagement in developing a framework that is effective, accountable, sustainable and responsive to the peculiar security needs of communities across the federation,” he added.
He noted that at the conclusion of its assignment, the Presidential Working Group will present a final, implementation-ready draft of the National Policing Bill for onward legislative processing.
The Presidential Working Group appreciated stakeholders who had already made submissions and encouraged others intending to participate in the process to take advantage of the extension.
The National Policing Bill portal went live on August 3, 2026, when Gbajabiamila first announced the public consultation window during a press briefing on the reform, at the time indicating that submissions would close after roughly two weeks.
The Working Group is expected to present the completed Executive Bill package to President Bola Tinubu for review on September 3, 2026.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) says the prevailing insecurity in parts of the country is negatively affecting its operations and revenue generation.
The Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs and Zonal Coordinator, Zone B, Mrs Nsikak Umoh, disclosed this in Minna while inspecting the Niger/Kogi Area Command Headquarters and engaging with vehicle importers on the operational challenges confronting the command.
Mrs Umoh said insecurity was not peculiar to the Niger/Kogi Area Command, but affected several Customs formations across the North-West, including Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Zamfara states.
“The security challenge is not peculiar to only Niger/Kogi Area Command. The whole of North-West comprising Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina and Zamfara States, which are all under my command, are facing the same security challenge,” she said.
According to her, the security situation had exposed customs personnel to increasing threats, with some officers killed or injured in the course of performing their duties, adding that the development had forced some commands to scale down their operations or adopt more cautious approaches, thereby affecting revenue collection.
Mrs Umoh explained that the service was encouraging its officers to adopt intelligence-led operations to minimise risks while ensuring that legitimate Customs duties continued.
“But we are trying our best to encourage them to use an intelligence-based operating system to do their job, and that is why in most of the commands, we have a reduction in revenue collections,” she added.
The ACG also expressed concern over the impact of insecurity on the physical and psychological wellbeing of Customs personnel, noting that some officers had developed health complications, including hypertension, due to fear and stress associated with their duties.
Despite the security challenges, Umoh said the Niger/Kogi Area Command had continued to perform strongly in revenue generation, disclosing that the command had surpassed its monthly revenue target of N17 million, generating more than N200 million as of August 12.
She commended the officers and stakeholders in the command for sustaining revenue collection despite the difficult operating environment.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has recovered more than N115 billion in statutory levies owed to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by defaulting oil companies between 2021 and 2023.
The recovery comprises N76.883 billion and $81.076 million, according to an EFCC representative, Mr Francis Oka-Phillips Usani, who disclosed the figures before the Senate Committee on Public Accounts on Wednesday.
Mr Usani spoke while the committee was investigating the 2021–2023 Oil and Gas Sector Audit Report of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
He said the EFCC investigated 43 oil companies over outstanding three per cent statutory levies payable to the NDDC.
According to him, 24 of the companies operating in the Niger Delta were found to have outstanding liabilities of N76,883,705,907.17 and $81,076,655, while the remaining 19 companies were cleared of any outstanding liability.
“At the commencement of the investigation, EFCC invited 43 oil companies, out of which 24 operating within the Niger Delta were found to have outstanding liabilities in the sums of N76,883,705,907.17 and $81,076,655.00, while the remaining 19 other oil companies were given a clean bill of health,” Mr Usani said.
The agent explained that following the investigation and pressure mounted by the commission, some of the affected companies paid their outstanding liabilities directly to the NDDC.
He said the direct payments amounted to N6.709 billion and $16.994 million.
Mr Usani further disclosed that of the funds recovered by the EFCC on behalf of the NDDC, N73.373 billion and $67.070 million had so far been released to the commission, noting that the balance of N3.510 billion and $14.005 million remained in the EFCC’s recovery account.
He, however, stated that the commission was also mindful of other possible outstanding statutory obligations and taxes payable to the federal government.
