Dapo Akinrefon
The Director General of the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC, Mathew Adeniyi Adeyemi, has denied ever sitting down face-to-face with Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila.
Speaking from an undisclosed location to social media activist, Martins Vincent Otse, known as VeryDarkBlackMan (VDM), the embattled Adeyemi said he was in no position to confirm or rule out Gbajabiamila’s involvement in the scandal engulfing the PFIPC.
His denial comes roughly 72 hours after Gbajabiamila’s legal team, Kemi Pinheiro, threatened him with legal action over the claims made against the Chief of Staff.
Early in the 16 minutes 26 seconds video of their exchange, obtained on Tuesday, VDM explained that Adeyemi had phoned him first, and he returned the call once he realized who was on the line.
Opening the interview, VDM asked, “Let’s start with this: did you at any point in time meet with Femi Gbaja one-on-one to discuss this whole thing?”
Adeyemi answered, “no.”
VDM pressed further, asking, “Did you speak on the phone to discuss this whole thing?”
Adeyemi said, “Yes, like three times I’ve once spoken to him through my late friend, Dolapo Tanimola.”
Raising the possibility that someone else may have been on the other end of those calls, VDM asked, “How are you sure it was Gbaja? Did you speak to him on video call? Anybody could have collected that phone.”
Adeyemi replied, “No, it was not on video call.”
The self-styled DG also agreed when VDM asked him to verify that “every transaction that was done was through your friend and that your friend is late.”
When VDM remarked, “If the Chief of Staff is coming to say he is not the one, it is possible (that he is not). In Nigeria, anything can happen,” Adeyemi responded, “Of course! Yes.”
Asked whether Gbajabiamila might genuinely be unaware of the fraud or might be lying, Adeyemi said, “I wouldn’t say he is lying and I wouldn’t say he is saying the truth.”
He added that this uncertainty was precisely why he had called on President Tinubu to set up an investigation.
Adeyemi is currently standing trial over his alleged role in running the council — a body the Presidency insists is fictitious — with his case adjourned to July 14, 2026 at the federal high court in Abuja. At a press briefing on June 25, 2026, he had accused Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the PFIPC’s alleged N27.4 billion take-off grant, roughly N12.5 billion, and separately of pocketing N400 million tied to appointments linked to the agency.
Through his lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), Gbajabiamila rejected the allegations outright and insisted he had never once been in contact with Adeyemi through any proxy, going on to threaten a N10 billion defamation suit over the bribery, murder, and other criminal allegations tied to his name.
On Tuesday, President Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to carry out a full investigation into the scandal and submit findings within 30 days.
Adeyemi told Martins Vincent VDM he intended to hand himself over to police or the DSS following the interview, though it remains unclear, as of this report, whether he has done so.
