The Presidency has denied any connection between the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and the disputed Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), saying police forensic analysis confirmed that the signature on the controversial appointment letter was forged.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, stated this while speaking with The PUNCH.
“The police has investigated this man. They have done forensic analysis of the Chief of Staff’s signature. The case has been filed at the Federal Court already,” Onanuga said.
“And I am telling you that before the police filed the case, they had already done their own forensic analysis and found that the signature was forged. They found out that all the documents he was parading were fake.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force has released the father of Adeniyi Adeyemi after hours of questioning over his son’s whereabouts.
A neighbour of the family, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the elderly man was questioned extensively before he was allowed to return home.
“Baba has been released. He was questioned about his son’s whereabouts and the police also took a list of the contacts on his phone. We don’t know what they want to use it for,” the neighbour said.
Police officers had reportedly stormed the family residence on Monday after failing to locate Adeyemi.
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, who is representing Adeyemi, condemned the arrest, describing it as unlawful.
Falana said security agencies should not intimidate or harass relatives of suspects.
He maintained that his client had not absconded and had appeared in court on four previous occasions over the matter.
According to him, Adeyemi would also appear in court when the case resumes on July 27.
The Senate, on Tuesday, said it could not intervene in the controversy surrounding the PFIPC because no petition had been submitted to the National Assembly and the matter was already before the court.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Yemi Adaramodu, acknowledged that the agency had a budgetary allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
He, however, said the Senate had no basis to investigate the matter without a formal petition.
“The allegations and counter-allegations over a fake agency and its director general are all within the executive, which should be sorted out by it, specifically between the office of the Chief of Staff and the alleged fake DG,” Adaramodu said.
“The budget line being referred to was not created or inserted by the National Assembly, and it is not the duty of the Senate or the House of Representatives to carry out security checks on those supposedly appointed to head the various MDAs.”
He added that if a petition was submitted to the Senate, the matter would be considered legislatively.
Adeyemi, who claims to be the Director-General of the council, is standing trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja on an eight-count charge bordering on conspiracy, forgery and impersonation.
The Federal Government has listed Gbajabiamila and 10 others as prosecution witnesses in the case.
The controversy deepened after the discovery of a ₦1.3bn allocation to the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act despite the Presidency’s insistence that the agency does not exist.
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