How a ‘Fake’ Prince Duped the Presidency: The Limits of Denial in Tinubu’s Nigeria

For months, the Tinubu administration has insisted that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew single-handedly forged documents, conjured up a non-existent federal agency, and summoned foreign envoys to a hotel meeting. According to the official narrative, he mesmerised top civil servants and parliamentarians and inserted a phantom Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council into the 2026 budget with a N1.3 billion allocation. Yet the real scandal may lie closer to home. Adeyemi claims that Femi Gbajabiamila, the president’s chief of staff, sold him a public office for N600 million. The deal fell apart over demands for almost half of the agency’s N27.4 billion take-off grant. How did an alleged impostor secure federal office space, open central bank accounts, and host ambassadors without detection for more than a year? Questions remain unanswered. Investigations are limited, and key witnesses have vanished under mysterious circumstances. This saga has tarnished Nigeria’s international reputation and highlighted alarming gaps in governance. Without a full public inquiry, trust in our institutions will only erode further.

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