In brief
A Nigerian man who claimed to head a bogus council linked to the Presidency has been arrested in Osun State after a six‑week fugitive period. The Federal High Court issued a warrant when he missed a hearing on forgery and impersonation charges, and police seized him with intelligence units. The scandal exposed forged documents that claimed approval from the President’s chief of staff, while the council’s supposed bank accounts never existed. Civil‑society groups, opposition lawmakers and lawyers demanded an independent investigation of the scheme. Adeyemi maintains his innocence but acknowledged danger to his life.
Boss of Fake Nigerian Government Agency Arrested After Weeks on the Run
Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, who styled himself as director general of the invented Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), was taken into custody in Osun State this week.
The Federal High Court in Abuja had issued a warrant on Tuesday after Adeyemi failed to attend a hearing on charges of forgery and impersonation. He had previously claimed that the PFIPC was set up in 2024 to attract foreign investment, yet no record shows any deals reached through the made‑up agency.
The case burst into the public eye when President Bola Tinubu ordered a corruption probe into the phantom council. The presidency confirmed that the supposedly official appointment letter bore a forged signature of the chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Crime‑fighting units – including the Force Intelligence Department and the Intelligence Response Team – brought Adeyemi to police headquarters in Abuja for further questioning. The manhunt began after the government unearthed the fraud, and the council had allegedly secured office space within the Federal Secretariat and opened bank accounts that never functioned.
Adeyemi has cautioned that his life is at risk and, although he pledged to appear in court to clear his name, he was absent from the scheduled hearing. His lawyer, Genesis Francis, said that the client could not be persuaded to attend due to safety concerns; Adeyemi wrote an open letter to Tinubu outlining these fears.
Civil‑society groups, opposition politicians and senior lawyers now demand an independent inquiry into the fraud, as the scandal has highlighted potential loopholes that could be exploited for public‑fund misappropriation.
