The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has detained Adeniyi Adeyemi, the director-general of the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).
Osun State Police spokesperson Abiodun Ojelabi confirmed the arrest, stating that agents from the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) apprehended Adeyemi in the state on Tuesday.
The arrest followed an order issued earlier that same day by a Federal High Court in Abuja after Adeyemi failed to appear in court.
Justice Muhammed Umar issued the bench warrant for Adeyemi’s arrest after defense counsel Genesis Francis admitted he could not convince his client to appear in court.
The judge noted that the prosecution filed charges against Adeyemi on November 27, 2025, with formal proceedings commencing on December 4, 2025. Following the warrant, Justice Umar adjourned the case to September 30, 2026.
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Backstory…
In November 2025, police slammed Adeniyi Adeyemi and two other suspects, identified only as Femi and Anu, with an eight-count charge bordering on forgery and impersonation.
Authorities accused the trio of forging presidential letterheads to run their operations.
The PFIPC scandal first gripped public attention in June, when the presidency disowned the council, labeling it a completely fictional institution.
Despite the lack of a formal structure or presidential declaration establishing it, PFIPC functioned as a government agency, receiving funding in the 2026 budget, occupying an office at the federal secretariat, and hiring employees.
Adeniyi Adeyemi claimed that Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff, got N400 million as a proxy for the appointment letter to the phoney agency.
President Bola Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to examine the PFIPC affair.
On Monday, Adeyemi urged Tinubu to form an impartial, multi-stakeholder investigative team to look into the council scandal and the purported N1.3 billion budget allocation.
Adeyemi claimed he actually borrowed the ₦400 million paid to a proxy to secure his appointment letter, adding that his lenders have since petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover their money. In response to the growing scandal, President Bola Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to launch a full investigation into the PFIPC affair and submit its findings within 30 days. On Monday, Adeyemi sent an open letter to the president welcoming the ICPC probe. However, he urged Tinubu to take it a step further by forming an independent, multi-stakeholder investigative team to guarantee impartiality, specifically tasking them to look into the council scandal and its controversial ₦1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 national budget.
