The Presidency has broken its silence on the recent bribery and appointment allegations targeted at the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, declaring them the fabrications of a professional con artist.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the clarification was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
In the statement, the administration clarified that the controversy stems from an elaborate scam orchestrated by a man named Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew.
According to the presidency, Matthew has been falsely parading himself as the director-general of a completely non-existent government entity called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, using forged appointment letters, reference numbers, and falsified seals purportedly originating from the office of the Chief of Staff.
The presidency revealed that the Office of the Chief of Staff originally blew the whistle on the fraudulent operation back in October 2025 after learning that Matthew was hosting unauthorized meetings with foreign ambassadors, operating thirty-four separate bank accounts under fake agency names, and even misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to open a Central Bank of Nigeria account.
The government said security agencies swiftly intervened following a petition by Gbajabiamila, leading to Matthew’s arrest in Abuja on October 27, 2025.
In his initial statement to the police, the suspect claimed an accomplice, who has since died in an Abuja hotel fire, helped him secure the forged credentials. The police have since filed an eight-count charge of forgery, impersonation, and obtaining by false pretense against Matthew at the Federal High Court in Abuja, with the trial scheduled to commence on July 27.
The presidency cautioned politicians and the public against weaponizing the recent claims made by Matthew while he was out on police bail, noting that his backstory includes a 2016 scam where he falsely claimed to be a United Nations-affiliated ambassador until the global body publicly debunked his existence.
