PFIPC scam: DSS, EFCC should unravel criminal network — Presidency

The Nigerian Presidency has directed the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to unmask individuals within government institutions who allegedly aided Prince Matthew Adeniyi in operating a fraudulent presidential agency. Adeniyi is accused of running a fictitious body called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.

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What is not in doubt is that internal collaborators enabled Adeniyi to get this far. That is precisely what investigators from the DSS, the Police and the EFCC must now unravel.

According to Temitope Ajayi, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Adeniyi, described as an "irredeemable con artist," exploited public perceptions of corruption to shield himself. Ajayi alleged that Adeniyi forged presidential appointment letters, maintained 34 bank accounts under fictitious government names, hosted foreign ambassadors, and opened a Central Bank account while posing as the agency's director-general.

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The criminal network within the affected institutions must be dismantled and everyone found to have played a role should be arrested and prosecuted.

The Presidency emphasized that internal collaborators were crucial to Adeniyi's ability to operate. Investigators from the DSS, police, and EFCC are tasked with unraveling this network and prosecuting all involved. Ajayi noted that while criminals often attempt large-scale heists, the system itself eventually detected this particular fraud.

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In Nigeria, the easiest and most believable allegation anyone can throw at a public officer is corruption. Once that accusation is thrown into the mix, the water is polluted, the lines are blurred and everyone is kept busy arguing over distractions rather than the real issues.

Ajayi also commented on the public's tendency to readily accept accusations of corruption against public officers, suggesting Adeniyi expertly used this to his advantage. He asserted that contrary to narratives of unchecked criminal activity, the system's detection of the fraud demonstrated its capacity to address such issues administratively.

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Matthew Adeniyi understands Nigerian public psychology and he is exploiting it expertly to shield himself. 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.