A video of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the man accused of operating a fictitious Federal Government agency, has resurfaced online as the controversy surrounding the alleged ₦1.3bn "ghost agency" continues to generate public attention.
The footage, recorded during a press conference in June 2026, showed Adeyemi defending his claim to the leadership of the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council while disputing the position of the Presidency and the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
During the briefing, Adeyemi questioned the Presidency's insistence that the council did not exist, arguing that the agency appeared in official budget documents.
He maintained that the national budget undergoes several stages of preparation and scrutiny before receiving legislative approval, insisting that the appearance of the council in the appropriation documents raised serious questions about the integrity of the budgeting process.
According to him, if the agency was truly non-existent, authorities should explain how references to it found their way into official records that passed through executive and legislative scrutiny.
Adeyemi also claimed that the council operated several accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria, including domiciliary, pounds sterling and Treasury Single Account facilities.
He argued that opening such accounts with forged or fictitious documentation would be impossible, particularly with the apex bank.
The embattled suspect further alleged that the Chief of Staff to the President demanded 48 per cent of the agency's proposed ₦27.4bn take-off grant, amounting to about ₦12.5bn.
The Presidency has repeatedly dismissed the allegation, insisting that the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council was never created by the Federal Government and has no legal foundation.
According to government officials, Adeyemi allegedly forged official documents, including appointment letters bearing the names and signatures of senior public officials, to present himself as the Director-General of the purported council.
The authorities also alleged that he operated from an office within Phase III of the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, where he reportedly received government officials, diplomats, foreign investors and members of the public while presenting himself as a senior government official.
The controversy intensified after reports indicated that an entity listed in the 2026 Appropriation Act as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council received more than ₦1.3bn in budgetary allocations.
The reported allocation comprised about ₦803m for personnel costs, ₦200m for overhead expenditure and ₦300m for capital projects, prompting widespread scrutiny over how a body now described by the Presidency as fictitious was captured in the federal budget.
Adeyemi is currently standing trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja on an eight-count charge bordering on forgery, impersonation, false personation and operating a fictitious government agency.
While the Presidency has urged the public to disregard his claims on the grounds that the matter is before the court, Adeyemi has continued to maintain that he is the legitimate head of the council, insisting that the court will determine the authenticity of his appointment.
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