Details have emerged about how the controversial Director General of the alleged ghost agency, Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), Prince Adeniyi Mathew Adeyemi, once lived in the Palace of the Alaafin of Oyo during the reign of the late monarch, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III.

Investigations conducted by one of the federal agencies mandated to dig into the matter from early 2025 revealed that the said DG was not related to the late monarch but that he grew up in the palace and adopted the title of prince.

Sources in the system confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that Adeniyi Mathew’s situation caught the attention of the security agencies early last year and that a series of investigations were flagged off across locations, including educational institutions, business links and childhood locations.

It was gathered that he once lived in Oyo town and that he was traced to the Palace of the Alaafin of Oyo, where a top aide of the immediate past Alaafin Adeyemi confirmed to investigators that the said Prince Adeniyi Mathew Adeyemi was not in any way related to Oba Lamidi Adeyemi.

The top aide to the late monarch was also said to have confirmed that the surname of the controversial DG is Adeniyi, while his middle name is Mathew.

It was gathered that the investigations, which spanned from February to April 2025, revealed that Adeniyi Mathew grew up in the palace and had always adopted the title of a prince. It was also gathered that at a stage, Oba Adeyemi had to warn him to drop the use of the title of Prince because he was never a prince.

A source further stated that key accountability agencies of the Federal Government had uncovered several phony organisations in the past and that many such agencies have been used to siphon government funds.

Said a source: “I can confirm to you that several investigative agencies of government have in the past raised questions about some phony organisations which appear in the books of the government. Curiously, some of those bodies remain in the books.”

Question marks started emerging on the character of Prince Adeniyi Mathew Adeyemi last week following altercations between him and the Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila. While the Chief of Staff had disowned Adeniyi and accused him of running an illegal body, the controversial DG addressed a press conference in Abuja in which he defended the integrity of his organisation. He also raised certain allegations against the Chief of Staff.

His matter, however, became further complicated following the discovery that he operated a Treasury Single Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria and that his agency was allocated the sum of N1.3 billion in the 2026 budget, aside from the fact that he operates from the Federal Secretariat, Abuja. (Nigerian Tribune)

Update news