A video of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the man at the centre of the alleged ₦1.3 billion “ghost agency” scandal, has resurfaced online on Monday, reigniting further public debate over the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and its appearance in the 2026 federal budget.
The footage, recorded during a press conference in late June 2026, captured Adeyemi defending his claim as the Director-General of the council while questioning the Presidency’s insistence that the agency never existed.
During the briefing, Adeyemi argued that it was difficult to reconcile the government’s position with the agency’s reported inclusion in official budget documents.
“The national budget does not emerge in isolation. It passes through multiple layers of technical drafting, executive coordination, ministerial inputs, Budget Office review, and finally legislative scrutiny by both chambers of the National Assembly,” he said.
He questioned how an agency now described by the Presidency as fictitious could have made its way into the approved budget.
“The question becomes unavoidable: At what point in this process did references to a non-existent agency allegedly enter the official record? And if they are indeed present in official documentation, what does that imply about the integrity of the process that produced and approved those documents?” Adeyemi asked.
He also claimed that the council maintained multiple accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria, including domiciliary, pounds sterling and Treasury Single Account (TSA) accounts.
“The same acclaimed non-existent agency has a domiciliary account, a pounds sterling account and a Treasury Single Account, all domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria. Is it even possible to open an account with fictitious documents in a commercial bank in Nigeria today, let alone the Central Bank of Nigeria?” he said.
Adeyemi further alleged that the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, demanded 48 per cent of the agency’s proposed ₦27.4 billion take-off grant, amounting to about ₦12.5 billion.
The Presidency has consistently denied the allegations, maintaining that the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council has no legal backing and was never established by the Federal Government.
According to the Office of the Chief of Staff, Adeyemi forged official documents, including appointment letters purportedly bearing the names and signatures of senior government officials, to present himself as the Director-General of the alleged council.
Authorities also alleged that he operated from an office within Phase III of the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, where he reportedly hosted meetings with government officials, diplomats, foreign investors and members of the public while presenting himself as a senior government official.
The controversy intensified after reports revealed that an entity listed in the 2026 Appropriation Act as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council received more than ₦1.3 billion in budgetary allocations.
The allocation reportedly included about ₦803 million for personnel, ₦200 million for overhead costs and ₦300 million for capital expenditure, raising fresh questions over the budget approval process and prompting widespread public scrutiny.
Adeyemi is currently facing an eight-count charge before the Federal High Court in Abuja bordering on forgery, impersonation, false personation and operating a fictitious government agency.
While the Presidency has urged the public to disregard his claims, insisting the matter is before the court, Adeyemi maintains that he is not an impostor and says the courts will ultimately determine the legitimacy of his position.
