Embattled ‘DG’ Adeniyi Adeyemi Fights Back, Indicts Multiple MDAs in Fake Agency Scandal
Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the self-styled Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), has pushed back against allegations that he single-handedly created the disputed council. In a statement released while in police custody, Adeyemi alleged that several top Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government processed, recognized, funded, and officially interacted with the council over an extended period.
Through a public statement issued on Sunday by his legal defense team led by Festus Akhigbe, Adeyemi rejected attempts to portray him as a “lone mastermind,” maintaining that he is being made a scapegoat to cover up deep-seated institutional breakdowns across government gatekeeping channels.
Key Operational Highlights & Defense Claims
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Demand for Direct Legislative Hearing: Adeyemi’s legal team formally requested that the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the council—chaired by Hon. Yusuf Gagdi—issue administrative clearance to allow him to appear in person and testify. His counsel warned that any report produced without hearing his defense would violate his constitutional right to a fair hearing.
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Institutional Recognition & Approvals: The defense team argued that major state bodies—including the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Budget Office, and the Head of Service—officially processed documents, granted self-accounting status, assigned budget codes, and allocated office space at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja.
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Security & Anti-Graft Engagements: Adeyemi further claimed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) allocated a property to the council, requested a processing fee, and presented a plaque of recognition to its leadership, while primary security agencies participated in programs hosted by the council.
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Admissions of Oversight Failure: The claims come as senior government officials appeared before the legislative panel, including the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, who admitted that her office failed to conduct adequate due diligence before processing recruitment requests linked to the council.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PFIPC FAKE AGENCY INVESTIGATION MATRIX │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Key Subject : Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew (Acclaimed DG) │
│ │
│ • Investigating : House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee │
│ Bodies : (Chaired by Hon. Yusuf Gagdi) & Police Force │
│ │
│ • Implicated / : Office of the SGF, OAGF, CBN, Head of Service, │
│ Interacting MDAs : Budget Office, EFCC, and Security Agencies. │
│ │
│ • Defense Stance : Rejects "isolated impostor" narrative; demands │
│ a full audit of the government paper trail. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
“Scapegoated to Cover Up Institutional Breakdown”
Demanding a broader multi-stakeholder panel involving independent observers and legal experts to audit the complete paper trail, Adeyemi’s legal team noted:
“If the SGF, the Accountant-General, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Head of Service, the Budget Office, the EFCC, the National Assembly, and the heads of Nigeria’s primary security architecture all verified, processed, funded, and officially interacted with this agency over an extended period, how can our client be portrayed as an isolated, mastermind impostor?… Justice cannot be served by prosecuting the mouthpiece while ignoring the state machinery that built, budgeted, and bureaucratically birthed the entity.” — Legal Defense Team Statement
Legal experts and civil society groups continue to follow the legislative hearings closely, describing the affair as a major test for institutional gatekeeping and administrative oversight within the federal civil service.
Ayodele Quadri
Correspondent
