The PFIPC scandal has taken another dramatic turn. Police operatives have arrested the father of Adeyemi Adeniyi, the embattled Director-General of the disputed Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, along with a family friend who happened to be visiting. Officers arrested both men in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, while Adeniyi remains in hiding over fake council scam.
The arrest happened the same day the Accountant-General’s Office denied the council had any live government bank account.
According to the OAGF, no funds moved since the account was never fully activated, contradicting Bayo Onanuga’s earlier claims.
No Legal Basis for These Arrests, Falana Argues
Human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, broke the news to journalists over the phone. He explained that police stormed the family home and detained Adeniyi’s father together with a friend who was simply stopping by.
“Police have now stormed the house of the parents of Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi, Plot 3, Adeniyi Dynasty, behind Technical College, Road Safety Area, Ogbomoso,” Falana said. He then questioned the logic behind the move, asking: “Why did they arrest the father?”. There is no legal basis for substituted arrests. The young man has promised to show up in court, so why arrest his father?”
Neighbours in the area backed up this account. One resident, who asked not to remain anonymous, said officers rolled in using four vehicles and immediately pressured the household. “They came in four vehicles, and started harassing them and eventually took the father away,” the resident recalled, adding that police kept concerned neighbours from stepping in.
A second resident offered more detail, saying the visiting friend got swept up in the same arrest. “They took Baba away with someone who came to visit them this morning,” the resident said, adding that Adeniyi’s mother felt badly shaken.Neighbours later moved her elsewhere for safety.
PFIPC Controversy Widens Beyond the Arrest
The disputed PFIPC CBN account has become the latest flashpoint in a scandal that keeps widening by the day. Adeyemi Adeniyi, the man who claimed to head the fake presidential council, now faces forgery and impersonation charges before a Federal High Court in Abuja. Lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, insists courts alone should determine guilt here, not pressure aimed at family members.
Oyo Police Command spokesperson DSP Ayanlade Olayinka declined to comment directly when Vanguard reached out. Instead, he confirmed the matter now sits with the Force Criminal Investigation Department at Force Headquarters in Abuja, and he redirected further questions to the Force’s Public Relations Officer.
PFIPC CBN Account Never Went Live, Official Says
Meanwhile, questions around the PFIPC CBN account only grew murkier. Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga earlier claimed Adeniyi used forged paperwork to trick officials into opening the account, though no funds moved.. OAGF spokesperson Bawa Mokwa gave a different explanation: the account stalled simply because nobody submitted the required signatory list.
“The account has not seen the light of day,” Mokwa said. “It has not received one kobo because it was never fully activated.” A professional rewrite prompt for olybee.com: paraphrase articles, ensure Yoast SEO compliance, add metadata, and follow strict formatting rules.
Still, the council carried a real budget line. Nigeria’s 2026 budget allocated over ₦1.3 billion to it, sparking outrage since the Presidency insists the agency never existed.
Background: How the PFIPC Story Began
Officials say the entire controversy surfaced in October 2025, after the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission flagged that this obscure council appeared to be duplicating its own functions. That complaint triggered a swift response. The Office of the Chief of Staff to the President petitioned security agencies, alleging that someone forged letters and documents bearing the Presidency’s name. Investigators reportedly recovered incriminating materials after they arrested Adeniyi, even as government officials continued insisting the council never legally existed.
Then the budget allocation muddied things further, since it seemed to contradict the Presidency’s own claims. Opposition figures, legal experts, and civil society groups all seized on the inconsistency. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi have both called for an independent panel to investigate this.
As the case grinds through the courts and the political fallout continues to spread, questions about accountability, budgeting oversight, and the treatment of Adeniyi’s family are unlikely to fade anytime soon. For now, all sides — the police, the OAGF, and Falana himself — seem to be waiting on the next development in a story that keeps getting stranger by the week.
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