Former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, has mockingly urged the Federal Government to bestow a national honor on Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the man at the center of a N400 million appointment-for-cash scandal rocking the Presidency.

Speaking Friday during a live interview on Trust TV, Dalung reacted sharply to the ongoing legal and political battle between Adeyemi and Femi Gbajabiamila, the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu. He noted that if the government’s narrative is true, Adeyemi`s ability to seamlessly infiltrate state structures borders on pure genius.

Dalung, who served under the Muhammadu Buhari administration, stated that the Presidency`s defense exposes massive institutional failures. He argued that if an individual could single-handedly run a fictional council undetected, it signals a systemic collapse.

Dalung questioned how an alleged fraudster could access the highly secure Presidential Villa without high-level clearance.

The agency reportedly operated from the Federal Secretariat and interacted with diplomats.

Critics are questioning how a "fake" council secured Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) accounts and N1.3 billion in budgetary appropriations.

The controversy erupted after Adeyemi, claiming to be the Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), alleged he paid N400 million through a proxy to Gbajabiamila. He further claimed the relationship soured after he rejected demands to surrender 48 percent of the agency’s N27.4 billion take-off grant.

The Presidency has forcefully debunked these allegations. It countered that the PFIPC is non-existent, Gbajabiamila lacks appointment powers, and Adeyemi is an impostor currently facing an eight-count criminal charge at the Federal High Court.

"If this scammer has succeeded in all these layers," Dalung remarked sarcastically, "I will recommend the President to award this Nigerian... the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger, GCON." He concluded that the country should harvest and deploy such high-level intelligence for productive national development.