Fake DG forged Gbajabiamila letter, ran 34 bank accounts — Presidency

The Presidency on Wednesday further distanced itself from Adeniyi Adeyemi, whom it alleged forged an appointment letter from the Office of the President’s Chief of Staff, operated 34 bank accounts under fictitious government agency names and deceived foreign diplomats into attending meetings.

This was as it revealed that Adeyemi has been charged with an eight-count criminal charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

It said Adeyemi who had been parading himself as the Director-General of a non-existent body called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, was arrested by the police on October 27, 2025, at his office in the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, after the Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, formally petitioned the DSS and the Police on October 17, 2025, to investigate what he described as an elaborate forgery and impersonation scheme.

The account of the criminal case, including the police investigation report, the charges filed and Adeyemi’s history of fraudulent conduct, was revealed in a statement signed Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

The statement is titled, ‘Re: The Matter of Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew and the Fictitious Presidential Economic Advisory Council.’

The Presidency said the police filed an eight-count charge against Adeyemi and two accomplices at the Federal High Court in Abuja on November 27, 2025.

“He is due in court on July 27, 2026. He had been on police bail when he recently resurfaced with a fresh claim that Gbajabiamila had appointed him as Director-General of the same fictitious agency, a claim that contradicted his own statement to the police made in November 2024 and prompted the Chief of Staff to issue a public disclaimer on June 8, 2026,” it read.

The Presidency said in the petition to security agencies, Gbajabiamila had written: “The attention of this office has been drawn to the activities of certain individuals and groups engaged in the forgery of official appointment letters purportedly issued from my office.

“The fake documents, bearing falsified signatures, reference and folio numbers, and seals, have been used to claim leadership appointments to non-existent entities, with particular reference to the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.

“The aforementioned entity under the leadership of one Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew as Director-General is said to have an office at the Federal Secretariat Complex Phase III, 2nd Floor.”

Gbajabiamila further wrote, “They have been parading themselves as a legitimate government agency, hosting meetings with both foreigners and Nigerian citizens, and even going so far as to request a note verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United States of America to facilitate visas for some of their staff.

“The above development not only constitutes a serious criminal act but also undermines the integrity of the Presidency and the credibility of official government communication.

“I therefore urge you to initiate a thorough investigation to identify and apprehend those involved and also to uncover the network facilitating the forgery.”

In the police investigation, conducted by Assistant Commissioner Kabir Mogaji, officers found that he operated 34 bank accounts, nine of them opened in the names of fictitious agencies, including the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership and the FCT Investment Promotion Act.

It said Adeyemi had also fraudulently opened a Central Bank of Nigeria account by deceiving the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation using forged government documents.

The Presidency said no government money had been transferred into the account. “The act of the suspect constitutes criminal forgery, impersonation and obtaining by false pretence, thereby bringing the office of the Chief of Staff to the President and the Presidency to disrepute before the public and international community,” the statement quoted the police saying in its investigation report.

In his statement to the police, Adeyemi had claimed that one Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola had assisted him in procuring the forged appointment letter.

When officers went in search of Tanimola, they found that he had died in a fire incident at Kachi Hotel in Abuja on October 22, 2025, five days before Adeyemi’s own arrest.

The Presidency said the police confirmed Tanimola’s death at the morgue.

Onanuga revealed that the case originated from complaints by officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission that another body appeared to be functioning at cross-purposes with it.

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Shortly before the Chief of Staff’s petition to security agencies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had also independently raised concerns, he further disclosed.

In a letter dated October 15, 2025, signed by Anderson Madubuike, the Ministry wrote to the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Office of the Chief of Staff, requesting clarification after Adeyemi hosted ambassadors at the Wells Carlton Hotel and Apartments in Asokoro on October 10 without any engagement with or notification to the ministry.

“This act contravenes extant rules and regulations guiding diplomatic practices globally,” the statement quoted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stating in its letter.

The office of the National Security Adviser subsequently wrote to the Office of the SGF on October 20, and the OSGF wrote to the Chief of Staff on October 29 requesting clarification.

“This has become expedient owing to several requests from governmental and non-governmental bodies seeking to ascertain the status of the appointment under consideration,” the OSGF was quoted writing.

It said two days before that letter, the Chief of Staff had already sent a rebuttal to the Foreign Affairs Ministry stating that he had never issued any such appointment.

According to Onanuga, the Chief of Staff responded to the OSGF on November 5, saying “Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, is unknown to any office, nor do we have any dealings with the said council.”

“My attention was drawn to a letter of this purported application, which is fake, and my office has instructed the police and other relevant security agencies to carry out investigations on the person and the entity he claims to represent,” Gbajabiamila stated.

The Presidency said Adeyemi’s conduct was not new, disclosing that in November 2016 he had paraded himself as an Ambassador and President-General of the World Youth Organisation, claiming affiliation with the United Nations and asserting he had been elected in New Delhi, India.

Local media celebrated the claim until the United Nations denied the existence of any such body.

The Presidency warned politicians and members of the public against using Adeyemi’s claims to attack the Chief of Staff, noting that all comments made on the matter at this stage were sub judice.

“Politicians and members of the public who are weaponising Adeyemi’s claim against the Chief of Staff should refrain from swallowing his narrative hook, line and sinker. They are advised to await the trial of Adeyemi and his accomplices, as well as the court’s judgement”, the statement read.

It is the second time since June 11 that the Presidency has publicly distanced itself from Adeyemi.

An earlier disclaimer signed by Gbajabiamila on that date, alerted the public, foreign missions, financial institutions and multilateral organisations that neither the council nor any appointment made under its name had any official standing under the Tinubu administration.

This is not the first time the Presidency is warning the public against dealing with persons who claim to be affiliated to it or were once affiliated to it but whose appointments were terminated.

In September 2025, the Presidency announced the disengagement of Mr. Fegho Umunobo, who served as Special Assistant to the President on Digital and Creative Economy in the Office of the Vice President Kashim Shettima.

A public notice signed by the State House Director of Information and Public Relations, Abiodun Oladunjoye, was silent on  Umunobo’s disengagement but warned the public against dealing with him.

“Stakeholders and constituents of the digital and creative economy, at home and abroad, as well as the general public, are hereby notified that FEGHO JOHN UMUNUBO, who hitherto had served as the Special Assistant to the President on Digital and Creative Economy (Office of the Vice President), has been disengaged with immediate effect,” the notice read.

“Kindly note that he no longer represents this administration in any capacity. Henceforth, anyone who interfaces with him in the name of President Tinubu’s administration does so at his or her own risk,” it added.