The arraignment of Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man accused of creating and operating the non-existent Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), has faced repeated delays since police filed charges in November 2025.
These setbacks stem from a series of adjournments requested by the defence, court scheduling conflicts, and claims of poor health, according to a report by PREMIUM TIMES.
Official court documents and police records indicate that the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit arrested Adeyemi on 27 October 2025.
He remained in detention for 23 days before receiving administrative bail on 19 November 2025.
“He got ill in police custody and was having an enlarged liver,” a police source noted regarding the medical grounds for his release. Following this, the police formally filed charges at the Federal High Court in Abuja on 27 November 2025.
While President Bola Tinubu recently ordered the ICPC to investigate the broader scandal within 30 days, this directive is not expected to halt the ongoing court proceedings.
The trial’s timeline has been significantly impacted by procedural delays:
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3 February: The case was first set for arraignment before Justice Mohammed Umar. The defence requested more time, claiming they had only just been served with the charges, despite prosecution protests that service occurred two weeks earlier. The court adjourned until 11 February.
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11 February: The court did not sit as Justice Umar was away at a judicial workshop. A new date was scheduled for 14 April.
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14 April: Adeyemi was absent. His lawyer submitted a letter claiming the defendant was unwell. The court deferred the case to 16 June.
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16 June: Although Adeyemi was present, his counsel requested another adjournment, citing their own illness as a reason they were unable to proceed. The court granted the request, rescheduling for 14 July.
The origins of the case date back to 17 October 2025, when the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, petitioned the IGP and the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), accusing Adeyemi of ‘forgery and impersonation’.
Following a police investigation that led to the execution of search warrants at Adeyemi’s office in the federal secretariat and his residence in Suleja, Niger State, authorities uncovered a web of activities.
Investigators reportedly recovered numerous correspondences between Adeyemi and various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), and traced 34 bank accounts linked to him.
These include nine accounts allegedly opened in the name of “purported government agencies known as FCT Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership FIPA-APP and FCT Investment Promotion Act.”
