In a stunning display of administrative incompetence, a man named Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew allegedly managed to set up a fake government agency, the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), right under the nose of the Nigerian presidency.
The scheme, which involved forging the signature of the president’s chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, allowed the suspect to secure office space in the Federal Secretariat and even appear in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a staggering allocation of 1.3 billion naira—roughly $950,000.
While the Accountant-General’s Office claims no actual funds were disbursed, the fact that a phantom agency could gain such a veneer of official legitimacy is a damning indictment of the government's internal security procedures.
President Tinubu has now directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to conduct a comprehensive investigation into how this fraud was facilitated and to identify the systemic weaknesses that allowed it to occur.
Adeyemi, who is currently a fugitive, claims he is innocent and that the agency was legitimate, despite the presidency confirming that the appointment documents were forged. The police have already questioned the three staff members associated with the fake council as the hunt for the primary suspect continues.
This scandal serves as a stark reminder of what happens when government oversight fails and bureaucratic processes are left vulnerable to exploitation by bad actors.
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