The PFIPC Scandal and the Need for Quick Changes

When Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew walked into Phase III Section of the Federal Secretariat in Abuja with a fake letter and came out with an office, sign, and a look of government legitimacy, he wasn't alone.

That is the hard truth about the "Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council" saga. Adeyemi faces eight charges of fraud and forgery. But the bigger issue is not just one man's alleged boldness. It is how a fake agency got close to ₦1.3 billion in the 2026 budget, secured office space in a key government area, hosted top officials from Nigeria and abroad, and reportedly operated several accounts.

This is not a story of Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila against Prince Adeyemi. This is a story of a failing system. Until the system is fixed, it is likely that the next Adeyemi is out there making another fake letter.

There are many problems in this saga that finance experts and others have pointed out, but they need repeating. There is a failure in budgeting checks. The 2026 Appropriation Act included ₦1.3 billion for the "Presidential Economic Advisory Council/PFIPC."

The issue is that PFIPC has no legal basis and was never set up by the Federal Government. Important sources in the National Assembly say the money came in through a backdoor deal without proper budget defense. For whatever his word is worth, Adeyemi said in an interview with social media influencer VeryDarkMan that he was held for 23 days while the budget was being prepared. "I did not prepare or defend any budget, and nobody went to defend it on my behalf," he said. This means the budget for the fake agency skipped the committees that should have asked key questions like: "Which agency is this?" What is its purpose? Who are its staff members?

Since democracy returned over 27 years ago, Nigeria’s budget process has faced criticism for "insertions" and "undue inflation." PFIPC is now the clearest example of why that matters. A ghost agency should not get real money. If the Budget Office, House of Representatives, and Senate all missed this, we need to take a long, hard look at our financial defenses.

There is also the issue of appointing and verifying offices. Adeyemi allegedly used a fake appointment letter with Gbajabiamila’s supposed signature and a counterfeit presidential letterhead to claim he was the DG. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers say he has "never had any contact whatsoever with Adeyemi." Yet somehow, that letter was "accepted at the civil service headquarters without proper verification." It got him an office in the Federal Secretariat for over a year. Up until this month, a sign for PFIPC was still there, telling visitors how to find the “council’s fake office” inside the Ministry of Health wing.

Just think about that. The main hub of the Federal Civil Service could not spot a fake appointment. If letterheads and signatures of top government officials are so easy to forge and accept, then no Ministry, Department, or Agency is safe. Tomorrow, it could be a fake NCC or NDDC director. And next week, possibly a fake university VC.

The third failure is in banking and due diligence. Adeyemi allegedly opened an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria for the nonexistent agency. He asked a serious question in a viral video: "The same claimed non-existent agency has a domiciliary account, a pounds sterling account, and a Treasury Single Account, all in the Central Bank of Nigeria. Is it even possible to open an account with fake documents in a bank in Nigeria today, let alone at the CBN?"

He also reportedly ran 34 bank accounts linked to fake agencies. Banks and government revenue platforms have to do a KYC (know your customer) check by law. How did 34 accounts get opened? Who approved the TSA linkage? The EFCC has recovered items and made arrests, but the institutions that allowed this financial mess have not been named.

But how does the Chief of Staff fit into all of this? Adeyemi claimed that Gbajabiamila wanted 48 percent of a ₦27.4 billion start-up grant and collected ₦400 million through proxies. Gbajabiamila says he has never met Adeyemi in his life and no proxy has acted for him. His lawyers call the claims "false and gravely defamatory" and have filed a ₦10 billion lawsuit against Adeyemi. Adeyemi admitted in the VDM interview that he never met Gbajabiamila.

The truth is, Gbajabiamila’s office does not issue appointments. Presidential Spokesman Bayo Onanuga pointed this out in a statement. Appointments are handled by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who clears all presidential appointments. Even then, the CoS’s letterhead and signature were also found to be fake.

It was the Office of the CoS that first “blew the whistle” about the fake agency after the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council raised the alarm. Gbajabiamila caused a disclaimer to be placed on Adeyemi, after which he was arrested by the police and taken to court.

President Bola Tinubu has directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Offences Commission to investigate the whole scandal. That is a good step. The President also made sure the investigation has a one-month time limit. It was also said that KPMG might be involved if there are bigger accounting issues to sort out.

While the House of Representatives has decided to start its own investigation into the matter, the Senate has paused its own probe, rightly supporting the President’s action.

The investigation and the legal process should follow through. The CoS should not be treated harshly until proven guilty. But the more important point is this: even if all the allegations against the CoS are false, as it seems, the fact that his name and signature could be forged to access government property shows some weaknesses in the system controls.

All of this makes reform of the system very necessary.

Arresting Adeyemi so he can face the consequences for his actions is needed. But that alone will not be enough. Stopping there would be like treating malaria with just paracetamol.

At least four immediate reforms are needed now. One is a budget integrity law. No allocation should show up in the Appropriation Act without being checked by the right committee and published with a sponsoring MDA, a legal document, and a list of staff. A “ghost agency” clause should trigger an automatic audit by the Auditor-General.

Secondly, there should be an appointment verification portal. Every federal appointment letter must be logged on a public, verifiable portal managed by the SGF. MDAs should not accept paper letters without a portal code. This way, forgery becomes easy to spot.

Third, the Federal Secretariat needs better access control. A forensic audit of all offices, signs, and allocations in the secretariat is needed. Any office space given in the last three years without SGF/HoS approval should be cancelled and looked into.

The fourth, and maybe most importantly, is the need for accountability in financial institutions. The CBN and commercial banks must explain how accounts were allegedly opened for PFIPC and 34 other "agencies." The Bank Verification Number and CAC database should be checked before any government-linked account is set up.

In the end, Prince Adeyemi allegedly took advantage of the system. But systems are exploited because they are weak. The PFIPC scandal shows that the system failed at three points: budgeting, appointments, and banking.