Controversy persisted yesterday over Prince Matthew Adeniyi Adeyemi, an alleged operator of a phantom federal government agency whose action has become a subject of public discussion.

Reliable sources disclosed that investigation into the self-styled Director-General, and the operations of the fictitious Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), will continue in the new week to unravel how he wormed himself into the hearts of government officials.

It was also gathered yesterday that Adeyemi served as a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State in 2023, but was fired barely four months after his appointment for allegedly engaging in shady deals.

In a statement issued by its spokesperson, Habibu Mohammed yesterday, the Kwankwasiyya Movement called on the Presidency to provide a full account of the controversy surrounding PFIPC, saying the matter had become a test of the Federal Government’s transparency and accountability.

On Friday, the Presidency denied any association with Adeyemi who attributed his appointment as ‘Director-General’ of the fictitious Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) to the Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.

Dismantling the internal network that sustained his activities, the Presidency said, was now the most critical task before investigators.

But the Kwankwasiya movement noted that while the Presidency had publicly denied the existence of the council and distanced itself from individuals claiming to represent it, reports to the effect that more than N1 billion was appropriated for the phantom agency in the 2026 budget had raised serious questions requiring urgent clarification.

The movement said: “This is no longer about one man. It has become a question of public accountability,” asking that “if the council never existed, how did it find its way into the national budget?

“Who proposed and approved the allocation? Which government offices processed the documentation? Was any public money released or committed?

“If official documents were allegedly forged, how were they used for such a long period without detection?”

The movement described the issues as matters of public accountability rather than partisan politics.

How Adeyemi was fired as Adeleke’s SSA over forgery claims

Fresh facts emerged yesterday about Adeyemi’s questionable past as The Nation checks revealed that the self-acclaimed Director-General of PFIPC was a senior aide of Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke for about four months in 2023 before he was fired on account of “shady deals that included forgery”.

A top government source who pleaded anonymity told our correspondent that Adeyemi served Governor Adeleke as Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Protocol.

The source said: “It is true that His Excellency appointed Adeyemi in 2023. But his appointment did not last for five months as he was sacked because of his shady deals.

“He was saddled with the responsibility of handling visa and travelling documents for the governor and other government officials.

“He was not really based in Osun State at that time.”

The source explained further that while Adeyemi was on the job, the governor started noticing some shady deals from his office. Hence, he was alive to everything that was happening in his office.

“After four months of his appointment, the governor received a letter from the French embassy seeking clarification on an issue earlier raised by His Excellency. We were confused because the government had never raised any letter to that embassy.

“We investigated further and discovered that Adeyemi had used his office to write to the French embassy and forged the signature of Governor Adeleke and others for the purpose he was fraudulently pursuing at that time,” the source said.

It added: “When we discovered the shady deal he was into, we informed the Chief of Staff and also the governor, who directed the Secretary to the State Government to sack him immediately.

“Governor Adeleke had warned us that he would not tolerate corruption in his cabinet when we were appointed, so he did not even entertain any plea from him or those he sent to beg for mercy.”

The source said Adeyemi could have been prosecuted, but the governor decided against it because he did not want any distraction for his government.

How we were deployed, by disowned agency’s officials

Online newspaper, Premium Times, quoting a posting letter published on the Office of the Accountant-General (OAGF) website, reports that at least three civil servants from office were deployed on 28 August, 2025.

The online newspaper said three senior civil servants, whom the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation deployed to work at the now-disowned agency, offered a window into what the PFIPC’s activities looked like before it was shut down.

The paper said three civil servants – Ojo Victor, Omeh Amarachukwu, and Wakili Saidu – were questioned by the investigating police officers and had been listed as witnesses in the case filed against Adeyemi.

In their separate statements, written at the police headquarters on 10 November 2025, they described their work at the agency, their encounters with Mr Adeyemi, and what they thought of the agency.

In a letter dated 4 April 2025, Mr Adeyemi, using PFIPC letter-headed paper, wrote to the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), requesting staff to fill five vacancies, including a Principal Accountant, Accountant I, Principal Auditor, Senior Auditor, and Auditor I.

“Kindly note that the office has the requirement(s)/conditions of self-accounting status according to FR1602(2009),” parts of the letter he signed reads.

In another letter on the same date, Adeyemi wrote to the Accountant General of the Federation, requesting the deployment of Ogaba Harry and Esther Orji from the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President (OCEAP) to the PFIPC.

“We are aware that there is a need to formally deploy (post) them for the purpose of records and documentation,” he said.

It was yet unclear exactly when the deployments were approved, but Premium Times reported that at least three civil servants from OAGF were deployed on 28 August, 2025, according to a posting letter published on the OAGF website.

The three civil servants deployed are: Ojo Victor, 55, an Assistant Chief Accountant (ACA) in the accounts department; Omeh Amarachukwu, 40, an internal auditor; and Wakili Saidu, 45, also in the audit department.

In their separate statements, the three civil servants said they printed and took their posting letters to Mr Adeyemi on September 1, 2025. He received the letters and asked them to resume a week later on September 8, 2025.

When they resumed, they were given an open office to share, they said. But they were never assigned any tasks or given any documentation, as they had expected.

“We are three officers posted at the same time, and when we resumed on 8 September, the three of us were given an open office where the three of us were sitting down without doing anything,” said Mr Victor.

“Since then, there has been no correspondence between me and the DG,” Mr Saidu wrote.

Mr Victor also wrote that: “I have not been documented, and no schedule has been given to me since my assumption, which I find very strange.”

Mr Amarachukwu said the officials had made complaints, hoping to get another posting, but it never came. “I only go to work once a week, the reason being that we have done nothing since we were posted there,” Mr Amarachukwu said.

Mr Victor said he comes to the office once or twice a week “just to show our face in the office because there was no assignment or schedule for any of us to do.”

Mr Saidu said he reports for work three days a week – Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

However, all three of them said they had never heard of the agency before their posting there.

“I have never heard of that agency until I saw my name posted to the agency,” said Mr Saidu.

“I have not heard about the organisation before until my posting introduction came out on 28 August 2025,” Mr Victor said. (The Nation)