Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-styled Director-General of the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), was on Wednesday arraigned before the Federal High Court in Abuja on an eight-count charge bordering on forgery, fraud, and impersonation.
Adeyemi, who has been in detention since his arrest on July 14 under a court bench warrant, pleaded not guilty to all charges read before Justice Mohammed Umar.
Following his plea, Justice Umar ordered his remand at Kuje Prison until October 12, when full trial and hearing on his bail application will begin.
The case has taken a high-profile turn as the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice formally took over prosecution from the police, led by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation (DPPF), Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN.
Defense counsel Genesis Francis unsuccessfully urged the court to urgently consider his client’s bail on health grounds, citing a contagious ailment and a scheduled medical appointment.
However, the prosecution successfully argued that state facilities are adequate to handle his medical needs, prompting the judge to defer the bail hearing to the trial date.
Prominent figures have been slated to testify in the suit, including the Chief of Staff to the President, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, alongside civil servants from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and police investigators.
The charges follow a police report triggered by an October 17, 2025 petition from Gbajabiamila’s office, which uncovered forged presidential letterheads, seals, and reference numbers used to set up the fictitious PFIPC—from which Adeyemi had reportedly been operating out of the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja.
Prior to his arrest, Adeyemi made headline-grabbing allegations during a media interview from hiding, asserting that he paid a ₦400 million bribe through a proxy to Gbajabiamila to secure the DG appointment.
He claimed his creditors, from whom he borrowed the funds, had reported him to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Adeyemi further alleged that his disappearance was due to death threats, particularly following the suspicious death of key intermediary Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola in an Abuja hotel fire.
Maintaining that the PFIPC is legitimate, Adeyemi has written an open letter to President Bola Tinubu demanding an independent, multi-stakeholder panel to investigate the agency and a controversial ₦1.3 billion budget insertion linked to it in the 2026 Appropriation Bill.
He expressed readiness to present documentary evidence to a panel comprising representatives from the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), civil society groups, diplomatic missions, and anti-graft agencies like the ICPC and EFCC.
According to the official charge sheet, Adeyemi—alongside accomplices currently at large—is accused of forging presidential letter-headed papers and unauthorized State House requests for land and offices across the 36 states on March 8, 2024.
These acts constitute offenses punishable under Section 1(2)(c) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, as the court prepares for a full-blown hearing later this month.
