A video of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the man at the centre of the alleged N1.3 billion “ghost agency” scandal, resurfaced online on Monday as controversy over the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) deepened.
The development came as the office signage directing visitors to the council’s purported office remained mounted at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja despite the presidency’s insistence that the agency was never established by the federal government.
The video, recorded during a press conference in late June, showed Adeyemi defending his claim to the leadership of the alleged council while challenging the position of the presidency and the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
During the briefing, Adeyemi questioned how an agency the Presidency described as non-existent could appear in official budget documents.
“The national budget does not emerge in isolation. It passes through multiple layers of technical drafting, executive coordination, ministerial inputs, Budget Office review and finally legislative scrutibudget officeambers of the National Assembly,” he said.
He argued that the agency’s inclusion in the budget raised serious concerns about the integrity of Nigeria’s budget process.
“The question becomes unavoidable: At what point in this process did references to a non-existent agency allegedly enter the official record? And if they are indeed present in official documentation, what does that imply about the integrity of the process that produced and approved those documents?” he asked.
Adeyemi also claimed that the council operated several accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria, including domiciliary, pounds sterling and Treasury Single Account (TSA) accounts.
“The same acclaimed non-existent agency has a domiciliary account, a pounds sterling account and a Treasury Single Account, all domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria. Is it even possible to open an account with fictitious documents in a commercial bank in Nigeria today, let alone the Central Bank of Nigeria?” he said.
He further alleged that the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, demanded 48 per cent of the council’s proposed N27.4 billion takeoff grant, amounting to about N12.5 billion.
The Presidency has consistently denied the allegations.
According to the Office of the Chief of Staff, the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council has no legal backing and was never created by the federal government.
The presidency also alleged that Adeyemi forged official documents, including appointment letters bearing the names and signatures of senior government officials, to present himself as the director-general of the purported council.
Meanwhile, a visit by The Cable to the Federal Secretariat in Abuja on Monday showed that the PFIPC directional signage remained in place on a floor occupied by the Federal Ministry of Health, directing visitors to the council’s purported office.
The Federal Secretariat houses several ministries, departments and agencies, making it the administrative hub of the Federal Civil Service.
The lingering signage has further fuelled public debate over the controversy, coming despite the presidency’s insistence that the council has no legal existence.
