The federal government has charged Adeniyi Adeyemi, director-general of the fake Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), on an eight-count criminal charge.
Adeyemi was arraigned on Wednesday before Justice Mohammed Umar of the federal high court in Abuja. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
During the court proceedings, Rotimi Oyedepo, the director of public prosecutions, said the attorney-general of the federation (AGF) directed him to take over the case from the police.
Oyedepo asked the court to remand Adeyemi in prison custody.
However, Genesis Francis, counsel to Adeyemi, informed the court that his client had filed a bail application since January.
How it started
Adeyemi has been in police custody since he was arrested in Osun state on July 14.
Prior to his arrest, a federal high court in Abuja ordered his arrest after he failed to honour the court’s summons.
Adeyemi was the mastermind of the fictitious PFIPC that operated like a government agency, receiving an allocation in the 2026 budget, occupying an office at the federal secretariat and also recruiting staff, without any legal standing or presidential declaration.
He had alleged that Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff, collected N400 million through a proxy for the appointment letter into the fictitious agency.
Following public outcry, President Bola Tinubu ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the PFIPC scandal.
Subsequently, Adeyemi appealed to Tinubu to constitute an independent, multi-stakeholder investigative panel to probe the controversy surrounding the council and the alleged N1.3 billion budget allocation.