” — Adeyemi’s Lawyers Name SGF, CBN, Accountant-General, Head of Service, Budget Office, EFCC and National Assembly
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Lawyers representing Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man accused of establishing the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council which the Federal Government says was never lawfully created, have accused several federal institutions of validating and facilitating the council’s operations, and questioned why criminal proceedings have been focused on their client alone.
The statement was signed by his legal team on Sunday.
“If the SGF, the Accountant-General, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Head of Service, the Budget Office, the EFCC, the National Assembly and the heads of Nigeria’s primary security architecture all verified, processed, funded and officially interacted with this agency over an extended period, how can a single citizen, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, be held uniquely responsible for failing to detect what the entire apparatus of the State validated?” the lawyers asked.
“It is an administrative impossibility for an unassisted individual to mislead every arm of the federal government simultaneously without official, high-level institutional sanction,” they added.
They argued that justice could not be served by “prosecuting the mouthpiece while ignoring the state machinery that built, budgeted and bureaucratically birthed the entity.”
The legal team argued that while the prosecution and ongoing public inquiries have portrayed Adeyemi as an isolated impostor who single-handedly fabricated a federal agency, the “verifiable administrative footprint” of the PFIPC “tells an entirely different story.”
They said investigators should examine the institutional actions that created and validated the council rather than focus only on their client.
The statement made a series of specific allegations against named federal bodies.
On the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the lawyers said it “formally acknowledged documentation and facilitated official office allocations within the Federal Secretariat Complex,” and questioned how the federal government’s central administrative institution could have acted on the documents if they were forgeries.
On the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria, they alleged that both “acted on official documentation to issue administrative budget codes, grant self-accounting status, post federal civil service staff to the council and officially open operational accounts.”
On the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, they said it “formally approved the establishment structure and granted recruitment waivers” that enabled the onboarding of 314 personnel.
On the Budget Office of the Federation and the National Assembly, they alleged that both “processed and vetted documentation” leading to the inclusion of a N1.302 billion allocation for the PFIPC in the 2026 Appropriation Act, and maintained that the allocation was passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and signed into law by the President.
On the security agencies, they alleged that “heads of major security agencies attended programmes organised by the council.”
And on the EFCC, they claimed that the Commission “allocated a property to the council, requested N300 million as processing consideration and presented a plaque of recognition to its leadership.”
The controversy dates to October 2025, when the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, petitioned the State Security Service and the Nigeria Police Force over the alleged establishment and operation of the PFIPC, which the Federal Government said was never lawfully created.
Following the petition, the police filed eight charges against Adeyemi and two others, accusing them of forgery, impersonation and obtaining by false pretence. The case suffered several adjournments before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Last month, following the prosecution’s oral application after Adeyemi failed to appear for arraignment, Justice Mohammed Umar ordered his arrest.
His lawyer, Genesis Francis, opposed the application and told the court that his client feared for his life, adding that Adeyemi had written an open letter to President Bola Tinubu and wanted to remain alive to face trial.
The judge remarked that “the court will help him to be alive” before issuing the bench warrant.
Adeyemi was arrested by the police less than 12 hours after the order and remains in police custody pending further proceedings scheduled for September 30.
The House of Representatives opened a separate investigation into how the council obtained official recognition, office accommodation and budgetary allocations despite questions over its legal status.
On July 8, lawmakers resolved to investigate how the purported PFIPC secured the N1.302 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act despite lacking legal backing, and set up an ad hoc committee to trace how the allocation entered the budget and identify those responsible.
At its hearing on July 27, the ad hoc committee, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi, disclosed that it had uncovered 29 documents it believed were forged in connection with the council’s operations, and directed the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to produce Adeyemi before lawmakers within 48 hours, noting that his testimony was necessary before the investigation could be concluded.
That directive prompted the statement from his legal team.
A detailed Premium Times review of the controversy in early July found that about 12 agencies have questions to answer in the case, and that it is likely that collaborators within the system colluded with or enabled Adeyemi to commit the alleged fraud. However, police investigations failed to link any individual in government or the civil service to Adeyemi or the alleged fraud.
The review identified several institutions whose actions required further scrutiny, including the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the CBN, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, and the Budget Office.
It also examined the roles played by officials who approved or acted on documents submitted on behalf of the council, and questioned how those approvals passed through multiple government institutions without the alleged irregularities coming to light.
The Federal Government has maintained that the PFIPC never existed as a lawful federal agency despite operating from the Federal Secretariat, maintaining official bank accounts and obtaining government approvals.
Police alleged that forged documents enabled the council to secure official recognition and that Adeyemi presented himself as its Director-General. He has denied the allegations.
The Budget Office of the Federation, through its Director-General Tanimu Yakubu, has separately told the House committee that no public funds were released to the council, that the personnel provision stopped at Financial Clearance, the overhead provision stopped before warranting and cash backing, and the capital provision stopped before procurement approval, insisting that “not one kobo” was drawn and that “the money never moved because the controls held.”
The position now advanced by Adeyemi’s lawyers does not deny that the PFIPC was not a lawfully created agency. It advances a different proposition: that an entity which was allocated office space in the Federal Secretariat, assigned an administrative budget code, granted self-accounting status, posted federal civil servants, given recruitment waivers for 314 personnel, allocated N1.302 billion in an Appropriation Act passed by both chambers and signed by the President, and recognised by the EFCC with a plaque, cannot sensibly be described as the work of one man acting alone.
They insist that focusing criminal proceedings on Adeyemi without examining the role of the institutions that interacted with the PFIPC would leave the central questions unanswered.
The matter returns to the Federal High Court, Abuja, on September 30. The House of Representatives ad hoc committee continues its inquiry.
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