Nigeria investigates fake presidential council with 1.3 billion budget line

Police arrested Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew in Osun State on July 14 after a manhunt, moving him to Abuja as a Federal High Court warrant hung over an alleged fake presidential council that had drawn a 1.3 billion line in Nigeria’s 2026 budget.

The disputed entity was identified as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, or PFIPC, and was also called the Presidential Economic Advisory Council. The Presidency says the agency did not exist and that the appointment letter naming Adeyemi as director-general was forged. Adeyemi presented himself as the council’s head from the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, where he held meetings with foreign diplomats and Nigerian officials.

The alarm widened in October 2025. On October 15, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs raised questions after Adeyemi convened a meeting with ambassadors at the Wells Carlton Hotel in Abuja without the ministry’s knowledge. Two days later, the Chief of Staff to the President petitioned the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force over forged appointment letters issued from his office. The Presidency says the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission had already complained that another body appeared to be carrying out similar functions.

President Bola Tinubu has since ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to complete a full investigation within 30 days.

A Federal High Court in Abuja issued a bench warrant after he failed to appear for arraignment on an eight-count charge of conspiracy, forgery and impersonation in case FHC/ABJ/CR/562/2025. He has denied wrongdoing and said he feared for his life; he had been in hiding for weeks, switching off his phones before police tracked him to Osun State and brought him back through Ibadan to Abuja.

The Senate declined to immediately open its own probe into the budget allocation, choosing instead to wait for the ICPC’s findings. The House of Representatives moved to investigate the matter.