Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew was arrested in Osun State on 15 July 2026, marking the end of a weeks-long manhunt following his role in operating a fraudulent government body known as the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC). The suspect allegedly posed as the organisation’s director-general for nearly two years, successfully embedding the entity within high-level government infrastructure.
Investigation And Legal Proceedings
Police forensic analysis confirmed that the appointment documents used to establish the PFIPC, which bore the signature of Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila, were forgeries. Following the discovery, law enforcement officials filed an eight-count charge of forgery and impersonation against Matthew at the Federal High Court in Abuja in November 2025.
The suspect failed to appear for subsequent court hearings, prompting the Federal High Court to issue a formal bench warrant for his arrest on 14 July 2026. A spokesperson for the Nigerian Police confirmed the detention, stating: “We have just confirmed the arrest of Mr. Adeniyi Adeyemi by a team of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in Osun State.”
Administrative And Security Implications
The scandal has exposed significant vulnerabilities in government oversight, as Matthew managed to secure office space in Abuja’s Federal Secretariat and even featured the agency in the 2026 national budget with an allocation of 1.3 billion naira. While the Accountant-General’s Office clarified that the PFIPC never operated a central bank account or received public funds, the ability of a private individual to infiltrate a high-security complex remains a point of intense public scrutiny.
Concerns were first raised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in October 2025, leading the Office of the Chief of Staff to initiate a probe into the legitimacy of the agency. As the legal process against Matthew moves forward, investigators are expected to determine the full extent of the scheme and whether any internal officials facilitated his access to government facilities.