Police operatives have arrested the father of embattled Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, self-styled Director-General of the disputed Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), along with a family friend, in Ogbomoso, Osun State.
Adeyemi has been on the run since revelations surfaced that he allegedly defrauded the Federal Government by fabricating a fake presidential council.
The arrests came the same day the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) denied that PFIPC ever operated a Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) account, insisting no public funds were released to the outfit despite its budgetary allocation — a claim that contradicts an earlier statement by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga.
Falana: No Legal Basis for the Arrests
Human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, disclosed the arrests to journalists, saying operatives from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Force Headquarters Abuja, stormed the family home at Plot 3, Adeniyi Dynasty, behind Technical College, Road Safety Area, Ogbomoso, and took away Adeyemi’s father and a visiting family friend.
Falana condemned the move as unlawful, arguing there was no justification for detaining relatives when Adeyemi himself has pledged to appear in court.
Neighbours corroborated the account, describing how officers arrived in four vehicles, brushed aside residents who tried to intervene, and left Adeyemi’s mother in shock. Community members said they later moved her to safety, and a uniformed officer remained stationed in the area afterward.
Reacting, Oyo State Police Command spokesman DSP Ayanlade Olayinka distanced the command from the operation, stating the case falls under FCID’s jurisdiction in Abuja and directing further inquiries to the Force Public Relations Officer.
OAGF: PFIPC Account Never Went Live
Separately, the OAGF pushed back on claims that PFIPC successfully opened a CBN account, contradicting an earlier presidency statement crediting the police with uncovering that Adeyemi had fraudulently opened one using forged documents.
OAGF’s Director of Public Relations, Bawa Mokwa, said the account application stalled because Adeyemi never submitted the names of authorised signatories, meaning it was never activated and no funds — “not one kobo” — were disbursed.
Mokwa also rejected claims that PFIPC staff had been paid salaries, explaining that no recruitment or payroll process could proceed without clearances from the Federal Character Commission, Budget Office and Federal Civil Service Commission. He confirmed Adeyemi had not hired any personnel beyond officers seconded from OAGF, who will now serve as prosecution witnesses.
PFIPC was allocated over N1.3 billion in the 2026 budget — N802.9 million for personnel, N200 million for overhead, and N300 million for capital projects — a provision that has fuelled the ongoing controversy over how a body the presidency calls “fictitious” ended up in the Appropriation Act.
Adeyemi is currently standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on charges of forgery, impersonation and related offences. The scandal, which first emerged in October 2025 after the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission flagged overlapping functions, has drawn calls from opposition figures Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi for an independent probe into the matter.
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