The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday struck out the eight-count criminal charge against Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man accused of posing as Director-General of a non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC). The decision does not end the prosecution. The Federal Government has moved the case to the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, where a fresh charge has already been filed.
Justice Mohammed Garba Umar struck out the case, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/25/2025, on an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN. Oyedepo told the court that the Attorney-General of the Federation had reviewed the case file and the charge filed by the police and found loopholes. He said the forgery offences alleged against Adeyemi fell within the jurisdiction of the FCT High Court, not the Federal High Court. Adeyemi’s lawyer, Ibrahim Angulu, SAN, did not oppose the application.
The jurisdiction point is significant. The Federal High Court can only try matters listed under Section 251 of the 1999 Constitution, while offences under the Penal Code, such as forgery and impersonation, are ordinarily tried at the FCT High Court in Abuja. The Office of the Attorney-General took over the case from the police on September 30, the same day Adeyemi was finally arraigned and remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre.
The 38-year-old was charged alongside two others identified only as Femi and Anu, who are said to be at large. The prosecution alleged that the three conspired to forge a presidential appointment letter, State House letterheads, a conveyance approval for the take-off of the purported council and letters seeking collaboration with a federal ministry. A separate count accused Adeyemi of falsely presenting himself as Director-General of the PFIPC, an offence under Section 179 of the Penal Code. He pleaded not guilty.
The case began with a petition. On October 17, 2025, the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, asked the Inspector-General of Police and the Department of State Services to investigate alleged forgery of appointment letters linked to his office. Police arrested Adeyemi at his office in the Federal Secretariat, Abuja, on October 27, 2025, and he spent 23 days in custody before being granted administrative bail on health grounds.
Police filed the charge on November 27, 2025. What followed was a run of failed court dates. The arraignment collapsed on February 3, the court did not sit on February 11, and Adeyemi was absent on April 14 and said to be unwell on June 16. When he failed to appear on July 14, Justice Umar issued a bench warrant, and the police Intelligence Response Team arrested him in Osun State the same day.
In all, nearly 11 months passed between the filing of the charge and its withdrawal, without a single witness taking the stand. Adeyemi has now spent 90 days in custody since his July arrest. The prosecution had listed 11 witnesses, including Gbajabiamila, civil servants, a police officer, officials posted to work with Adeyemi, a hotel owner and a pastor.
The investigation has also raised questions about money. Police investigators said they traced 34 bank accounts linked to the operation, nine of them opened in the names of purported government agencies. A House of Representatives ad hoc committee later put the figure at about 58 accounts. The difference between the two figures has not been publicly explained.
The matter became a national controversy on June 11, 2026, when Gbajabiamila publicly stated that the PFIPC was not created by the Tinubu administration and that Adeyemi had never been appointed to head it. Adeyemi hit back. He alleged that he paid ₦400 million through a proxy to secure the appointment, still owed a ₦200 million balance, and that Gbajabiamila had demanded 48 per cent of a ₦27.4 billion take-off grant for the council.
Gbajabiamila has denied the allegations and filed a ₦15 billion defamation suit against Adeyemi. His lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, confirmed in July that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission questioned the Chief of Staff over the bribery claim. The House committee investigating the matter later cleared Gbajabiamila, stating that the appointment letter was neither issued nor signed by him.
The committee said it found evidence of fabricated documents, including the appointment letter, a purported Executive Order and a document presented as an Act of the National Assembly establishing the council. Before the panel, Gbenga Collins, Managing Director of Divine Dopacy Nigeria Limited, said he paid Adeyemi ₦400 million to facilitate a government contract and asked lawmakers to help recover the money.
One question remains unresolved. Adeyemi has pointed to pages 50 and 51 of the 2026 Appropriation Act, where a line for the council carries about ₦1.3 billion, made up of ₦802.98 million for personnel, ₦200 million for overheads and ₦300 million for capital spending. How a body the Presidency describes as fictitious came to appear in the national budget has been central to the opposition’s demands, with the African Democratic Congress candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and the NDC both calling for Gbajabiamila’s removal pending investigation.
A date for Adeyemi’s fresh arraignment at the FCT High Court has not been announced.