Court Issues Bench Warrant for Fake Presidency DG
A bench warrant now hangs over Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self styled Director General of a council the Presidency insists never existed, after he failed to appear at the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday for an arraignment that has stalled five separate times.
Justice Mohammed Umar issued the order following an oral application by the police prosecutor, Wisdom Madaki, who told the court that every adjournment so far had been sought by the defendant. Relying on Section 394 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, Madaki urged the judge to compel Adeyemi’s presence. His counsel, Genesis Francis, objected, saying his client stayed away over threats to his life and had written to President Bola Tinubu, insisting “he has to be alive to be able to face trial.” Justice Umar was unmoved. “The court will help him be alive,” he said, before adjourning the matter to September 30, 2026.
Adeyemi faces an eight count charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/562/2025, filed by the Nigeria Police Force on November 27, 2025, alongside two others named as Femi and Anu, both said to be at large. Seven counts border on conspiracy and forgery, while the fifth accuses him of impersonating the Director General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, contrary to Section 179 of the Penal Code. Prosecutors allege the group forged a presidential appointment letter, State House letterheads, a conveyance approval for the council’s take off, staff account requests and letters seeking collaboration with a federal ministry. One count cites an appointment letter purportedly signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila. On conviction, the forgery counts carry up to 21 years without the option of a fine.
The trail dates to October 17, 2025, when the Office of the Chief of Staff petitioned the Inspector General of Police over forged letters circulating in the President’s name. Adeyemi was first arrested ten days later and held for 23 days. Investigators say he operated 34 bank accounts, nine of them tied to fictitious agencies, and had secured office space within the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja. He has denied wrongdoing, maintains the council is genuine, and claims he paid ₦400 million through a proxy to secure the post, a sum his lenders have reportedly reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Gbajabiamila, whose office triggered the case, is listed among the prosecution witnesses.
What lifts the affair beyond a private fraud dispute is how a disowned body drew about ₦1.3 billion in the 2026 Appropriation Act. The Senate says the figure was “neither recommended nor inserted” by the National Assembly, while the House of Representatives has opened its own inquiry, warning that the lapse pointed to “a systemic vulnerability rather than an isolated administrative lapse.” The concern is familiar. BudgIT’s review of the 2025 Appropriation Act flagged 11,122 projects worth ₦6.93 trillion inserted by lawmakers, and in 2024 Senator Abdul Ningi alleged ₦3.7 trillion in unexplained padding. The 2026 budget itself swelled from ₦58.18 trillion at presentation to ₦68.32 trillion when passed.
For now, the burden rests on security agencies to produce Adeyemi in September. Whether the trial advances or drifts again, the episode has reopened an old question about how carefully Nigeria polices the documents, and the money, moving through its highest offices.