New documents have surfaced showing the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation approved Adeniyi Adeyemi, disowned Director-General of the non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, to attend the Canada-Africa Fintech Summit in August 2025, deepening a scandal that has now drawn in the Presidency, the opposition and civil society groups.
The document, obtained by Vanguard, was signed by Engr. Nadungu Gagare, Permanent Secretary of the Political and Economic Affairs Office at the OSGF, on behalf of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. It invited Adeyemi to join Nigeria’s delegation to Canada from August 3 to 8, 2025, in line with what it described as the President’s economic strategies, and directed him to register and involve other stakeholders in the programme. “This initiative will significantly contribute to shaping our economic vision, advancing development priorities, strengthening economic ties, fostering bilateral trade relations, and attracting foreign direct investment, FDI, to benefit the Nigerian economy,” the letter read, adding that his “experience, technical support, and presence will strengthen this delegation.” The document complicates the Presidency’s earlier position that Adeyemi fabricated his role entirely, since it shows a government office formally engaging him for an official assignment tied to presidential economic priorities.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar seized on the development to argue that scandal has become a defining feature of governance under President Bola Tinubu rather than an occasional lapse. In a statement through his aide Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the administration has moved from managing individual scandals to embodying scandal itself, pointing to a string of unresolved controversies, from the Humanitarian Affairs scandal and crude oil theft allegations to budget discrepancies and refinery rehabilitation spending, that he said have faded without public accounting. “The issue is no longer one scandal or another. The issue is the pattern,” he said, also renewing his call for Tinubu to disclose his age, education and family background.
The PDP took a more targeted approach, focusing on Gbajabiamila’s role. The party said allegations that the Chief of Staff solicited financial inducements from Adeyemi to facilitate his PFIPC appointment leave the Presidency trapped between two damaging explanations. “The Presidency cannot escape accountability by choosing between corruption and incompetence. If its version is true, it has admitted to an unprecedented collapse of institutional safeguards. If Prince Matthew’s version is true, it has exposed corruption at the heart of government,” said party spokesman Ini Ememobong, using Adeyemi’s alternate name. The party also questioned how an alleged impostor secured office space, government staff, CBN-registered accounts and dealings with agencies including the EFCC, and called for an independent forensic probe, suspension of implicated officials, and a public apology.
SERAP, meanwhile, filed a Freedom of Information request demanding that Senate President Godswill Akpabio and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas disclose all documents related to the ₦1.302 billion PFIPC allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act, including records of which lawmakers reviewed and approved the funding. The group gave the National Assembly seven days to comply or face legal action, arguing that the conflicting accounts around a fictitious agency’s funding raise serious concerns about legislative oversight and public financial management. “Nigerians have a right to know whether public funds were appropriated for an entity that was not lawfully established and, if so, how this occurred,” the group said.
