Mathew Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-acclaimed Director General of the fictitious Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) has denied ever sitting down face-to-face with Chief of Staff to the President, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila.
While speaking from a hidden location to Martins Vincent Otse, aka VeryDarkBlackMan (VDM), Adeyemi said he was in no position to confirm or rule out Gbajabiamila’s involvement in the scandal rocking the PFIPC.
Though, this denial comes after Gbajabiamila’s legal team, Kemi Pinheiro, threatened him with legal action over the claims made against the Chief of Staff.
In the interview, VDM explained that Adeyemi had phoned him first, and he returned the call once he realized who was on the line.
Opening the interview, VDM asked: “Let’s start with this: did you at any point in time meet with Femi Gbaja one-on-one to discuss this whole thing?”
Adeyemi answered, “no.”
VDM pressed further, asking: “Did you speak on the phone to discuss this whole thing?”
Adeyemi said: “Yes, like three times I’ve once spoken to him through my late friend, Dolapo Tanimola.”
While raising the possibility that someone else may have been on the other end of those calls, VDM asked: “How are you sure it was Gbaja? Did you speak to him on video call? Anybody could have collected that phone.”
Adeyemi replied: “No, it was not on video call.”
He also agreed when VDM asked him to verify that “every transaction that was done was through your friend and that your friend is late.”
When VDM asked: “If the Chief of Staff is coming to say he is not the one, it is possible (that he is not). In Nigeria, anything can happen,” Adeyemi responded, “Of course! Yes.”
Asked whether Gbajabiamila might genuinely be unaware of the fraud or might be lying, Adeyemi said: “I wouldn’t say he is lying and I wouldn’t say he is saying the truth.”
He added that this uncertainty was precisely why he had called on President Tinubu to set up an investigation.
Adeyemi is currently standing trial over his alleged role in running the council, an agency the Presidency insists is fictitious.
His case was adjourned to July 14, 2026 at the federal high court in Abuja. At a press briefing on June 25, 2026, he had accused Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the PFIPC’s alleged N27.4 billion take-off grant, roughly N12.5 billion, and separately of pocketing N400 million tied to appointments linked to the agency.
Through his lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), Gbajabiamila rejected the allegations outright and insisted he had never once been in contact with Adeyemi through any proxy, going on to threaten a N10 billion defamation suit over the bribery, murder, and other criminal allegations tied to his name.
On Tuesday, President Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to carry out a full investigation into the scandal and submit findings within 30 days.
