PFIPC: Fraud suspect exploiting corruption claims to distract Nigerians, says Tinubu aide
Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has accused the principal suspect in the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) controversy, Matthew Adeniyi, of using corruption allegations to divert attention from the criminal case against him.
Ajayi alleged that Adeniyi was exploiting the claims as a distraction from the charges he is currently facing.
In a post on X on Friday, Ajayi said corruption allegations were often the easiest accusations to level against public officials in Nigeria because they quickly shaped public opinion and shifted attention from the substantive issues.
According to him, Adeniyi understood the psychology of the Nigerian public and was using it to shield himself from accountability by attempting to link the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, to what he described as a criminal enterprise.
“He is an irredeemable con artist who is attempting to drag the name of the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, into his criminal enterprise. The Chief of Staff is simply his last straw,” Ajayi stated.
The presidential aide acknowledged concerns raised by commentators over the institutional failures that allegedly allowed the fraudulent scheme to operate but argued that many had overlooked the fact that the same government system eventually detected the alleged fraud.
He maintained that, contrary to claims that government institutions failed completely, the fraud was identified through internal administrative processes before it came to public attention.
Ajayi said officials of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission and the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs discovered anomalies relating to the PFIPC and reported the matter to the appropriate authorities for clarification.
According to him, the actions of the agencies demonstrated that the system was capable of identifying irregularities and responding appropriately.
He, however, acknowledged that insiders within government institutions might have aided the suspect, stressing that investigators should identify and prosecute all those involved.
Ajayi called on the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to uncover the alleged criminal network behind the scheme, dismantle it and ensure that everyone found culpable faces prosecution.
