The Nigerian Presidency has vehemently debunked allegations linking the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, to an alleged appointment-for-cash scandal, exposing a massive syndicate operating a fictitious presidential agency using forged documents.
The official rebuttal, issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, came after a man identified as Adeyemi Adeniyi Matthew publicly accused Gbajabiamila of demanding a bribe.
Matthew claimed he paid ₦400 million through a proxy and was asked for an additional ₦200 million to secure his appointment as the Director-General of the “Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council” (PFIPC). He further accused the Chief of Staff of attempting to block the council’s ₦27.4 billion take-off grant.
However, the Presidency has fired back, labeling Matthew a “serial con artist” and an impostor who fabricated the entire government agency and forged his own appointment letters.
According to State House officials, the Office of the Chief of Staff actually blew the whistle on the operation as far back as October 2025. The scheme was flagged after the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) complained that a parallel entity was operating at cross-purposes with its mandate.
Investigations by the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force revealed a highly sophisticated operation:
Matthew and his associates had set up a physical office within the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja. The group held high-level meetings with local and foreign officials, even hosting an unauthorized meeting with foreign ambassadors at a luxury Abuja hotel. They had additionally attempted to secure a note verbale from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain U.S. visas for their “staff.”
Police investigators discovered that Matthew operated 34 separate bank accounts. This included nine accounts opened under fictitious government names and a fraudulently opened account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), achieved by misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
”The fake documents, bearing falsified signatures, reference numbers, and seals, have been used to claim leadership appointments to non-existent entities,” Gbajabiamila stated in his initial petition to security agencies. The Presidency further clarified that, under current laws, the Chief of Staff does not even possess the constitutional authority to issue federal appointments.
The suspect was originally arrested in October 2025 at his makeshift Abuja office. During subsequent raids on his office and residence, law enforcement recovered a trove of forged government records.
Matthew and two alleged accomplices were hit with an eight-count charge bordering on forgery, impersonation, and obtaining money under false pretenses at the Federal High Court in Abuja. While out on police bail, Matthew reportedly fled into hiding and renewed his media campaign against Gbajabiamila.
The Presidency has urged the public and the media to ignore the fabrications of the disowned “Director-General,” noting that the matter is already sub judice with the next federal court hearing scheduled for July 27, 2026.
