FG Drops Old Charges, Files New Ones Against Adeyemi

The federal government on Monday brought new charges against Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claims to be the director-general of a non-existent agency called the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).

The prosecution team, led by Rotimi Oyedepo, presented the new charges at the FCT High Court in Abuja.

As a result, Mr Oyedepo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), withdrew the previous charges filed by the Nigerian police at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Mr Oyedepo, who serves as the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, informed Federal High Court judge Mohammed Umar about this change. He asked the judge to dismiss the old charges.

He explained that the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) found issues in the police case after reviewing it.

He stated that the alleged forgery against Mr Adeyemi can only be prosecuted at the FCT High Court, not the Federal High Court.

This is why new charges against Mr Adeyemi were filed. He assured the court that the defendant would be quickly arraigned again in the new trial court.

He asked the judge to dismiss the old charges as required by law.

Defence lawyer Ibrahim Angulu, who is also a SAN, did not challenge this request.

Mr Umar agreed and struck out the case as the prosecution requested.

With this decision, the federal government has moved its case against Mr Adeyemi from the Federal High Court in Abuja to the FCT High Court in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the police charged Mr Adeyemi and others still at large with eight counts. Police prosecutor Wisdom Madaki filed the case on 27 November 2025.

The charges claimed Mr Adeyemi and two others, named Femi and Anu, conspired, forged documents, and impersonated others.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that in counts one, two, three, four, six, seven, and eight, the prosecution accused Mr Adeyemi and the two others of working together to forge various official documents. These include a fake presidential appointment letter, State House letterheads, an approval for the PFIPC, requests for staff accounts, and letters seeking cooperation with a federal ministry.

In count five, the prosecution said Mr Adeyemi falsely claimed to be the Director-General of PFIPC, an offence under Section 179 of the Penal Code.

Mr Adeyemi denied these claims during his arraignment on Wednesday.

The prosecution plans to call 11 witnesses for the case. These witnesses include Mr Gbajabiamila, the chief of staff to the president, civil servants, a police officer, officials who worked with Mr Adeyemi, a hotel owner, and a pastor.

The AGF's office took over the case from the police on 30 September.

Mr Adeyemi allegedly accessed government offices by showing documents that claimed PFIPC was officially recognized by the presidency.

He has been in police custody since 14 July, when officers arrested him after a warrant was issued by Judge Umar.

The case began after a complaint from the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila. He reported alleged forgery and impersonation linked to the PFIPC and Mr Adeyemi’s claims.

This led to Mr Adeyemi's arrest at his office in the Federal Secretariat in Abuja on 27 October.

The police investigation found documents between the fake agency and various government offices. Investigators also discovered 34 bank accounts tied to this operation, including nine accounts in the names of fake government agencies.

Mr Adeyemi was in police custody for 23 days before he got administrative bail on 19 November 2025 due to health issues. Police filed an eight-count charge against him on 27 November.

Several attempts to bring Mr Adeyemi to court for arraignment failed. He was set to be arraigned on 3 February, but the attempt failed after his lawyer requested more time.

The lawyer argued that the defence only received the charges recently. Judge Umar postponed the matter until 11 February.

But the court did not sit on that day, and a new date of 14 April was given.

Mr Adeyemi was absent on 14 April. His lawyer presented a letter saying he was ill and asked for an adjournment.

The prosecution disagreed, and the court moved the case to 16 June.

Mr Adeyemi attended on 16 June, but his lawyer said he was too sick to continue. Judge Umar then set 14 July for the arraignment.

When the case was called on 14 July, the prosecution said they did not know where Mr Adeyemi was.

His lawyer, Mr Francis, told the judge that they could not find him. He explained that Mr Adeyemi was scared for his life and had written a letter to President Bola Tinubu, wanting to stay alive for the trial.

The prosecution then asked for a warrant for his arrest, which Judge Umar granted. Proceedings were rescheduled for 30 September, when he was eventually arraigned and ordered to be kept in prison.

Less than 12 hours after the court's order, the police reported that their Intelligence Response Team arrested him in a hideout in Osun State.

He has stayed in police custody since then until his arraignment on Wednesday and was sent to Kuje prison by the judge.