A Nigerian man accused of running a government agency the presidency says does not exist was charged in an Abuja court on Wednesday with forgery and impersonation. Prosecutors allege Adeniyi Adeyemi has posed since 2024 as director-general of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, or PFIPC, which the presidency says it neither established nor authorised him to lead. Adeyemi pleaded not guilty to all eight charges and was sent to prison until his next court date on October 12. The case has exposed gaps in the checks that govern Nigeria’s public institutions.
What Prosecutors Allege
According to court filings, the purported agency won office space inside the federal secretariat. It secured a roughly $1 million budget allocation this year and tried to open accounts at the Central Bank of Nigeria. Several government institutions also processed its requests in the belief that it was legitimate.
The case has gripped Nigerians because of the scale of what is alleged. A state agency that the government says never existed appears to have passed through several layers of state bureaucracy.
The Forged Letters
Prosecutors accuse Adeyemi of forging an appointment letter purportedly issued by President Bola Tinubu and signed by the president’s chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila. Gbajabiamila could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
They also say Adeyemi used documents bearing presidential letterheads to request office space, staff deployments and cooperation from government agencies. Other counts allege forged requests for office accommodation, an approval of staff account status, and a conveyance approval, all purportedly issued by the State House.
Prosecutors have not accused any government officials of conspiring with Adeyemi. He is jointly charged with two people identified only as Femi and Anu, who are said to be at large.
What Happened in Court
Adeyemi arrived in a white kaftan and baseball cap. He smiled and chatted with his lawyers before prosecutors read the eight charges at the federal high court in Abuja. Justice Muhammed Umar remanded him at the Kuje Correctional Centre after the plea.
Rotimi Oyedepo, the director of public prosecutions, told the court the attorney-general of the federation had directed him to take over the case from the police, and he asked for Adeyemi to be held in custody. Adeyemi’s lawyer, Genesis Francis, said a bail application dated January 12, 2026, had been filed and served on the prosecution. Adeyemi, 38, will stay in custody until that application is heard on October 12.
Adeyemi was arrested in the southwestern state of Osun. A judge had issued a warrant for him after he failed to appear in court five times.
What Adeyemi Says
Adeyemi has denied wrongdoing in interviews with local media. He says the PFIPC is genuine and that he personally approached budget officials to get it included in government spending plans.
He also told a meeting in Lagos on September 26 that the police, the Department of State Services and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission had cleared him of wrongdoing.
That claim runs against the prosecution’s account. Prosecutors say an investigation ordered by the presidency and carried out by the same anti-corruption commission found the council had no legal backing. The two accounts cannot both be right, and the court will have to sort out which is accurate.
What the Case Says About Oversight
Nigeria has long struggled with corruption and weak oversight in public services, and the case is seen as reinforcing a view that official procedures can be bypassed with the right documents and claims of powerful connections.
The charges describe a chain of ordinary administrative steps that were each approved or processed: a request for office space, a staff posting, a budget line, a bank account application. Prosecutors have not said which officials handled those requests or what checks they ran. Those questions are separate from the criminal case against Adeyemi, but they are the ones the court filings raise.
The presidency’s position is clear. It says it did not create the agency or authorise Adeyemi to lead it. Yet according to court filings, the agency held office space in a federal building and a budget allocation in a federal spending plan. That gap is the story.
What Happens Next
Adeyemi returns to court on October 12, when his bail application is due to be heard. He remains in custody until then.
Several points are still open. Prosecutors have not said how Adeyemi allegedly obtained the budget allocation, who in government approved it, or where the money went. Two co-defendants are at large. Adeyemi has not given a detailed public account of how he says the council was created.
His lawyers have not said whether they will challenge the forgery counts. The case will show whether the documents are as the prosecution describes them, and whether a body that never legally existed was able to operate inside the federal system for more than a year.
