By Emmanuel Thomas I Monday, July 06, 2026
ABUJA — The unfolding drama surrounding the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council () took a contentious turn on Monday following the arrest of the father of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man at the centre of the multi-billion naira scandal popularly dubbed #GbajaGate.
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, confirmed the development, revealing that police operatives stormed the elderly Adeyemi’s residence in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, picking him up alongside a visiting family friend.
The operation has triggered widespread condemnation from legal experts and civil society groups, who have slammed the move as an unlawful “substituted arrest.”
Speaking on the development, Falana questioned the legal basis of the police action, stating that the suspect’s father had no connection to the alleged offenses.
“Police have now stormed the house of the parents of Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi… The father has been arrested. There is no legal basis for substituted arrests. The young man has promised to show up in court, so why arrest his father?” Falana asked, demanding his immediate and unconditional release.
Critics and public commentators have reacted with fury, describing the arrest of an elderly parent as an overreach and an abuse of state power by law enforcement. Many have questioned how the central suspect managed to evade surveillance, only for the police to turn on his family.
”Arresting the father of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi is absolute nonsense and stands condemned,” a prominent civil society advocate stated.
“There is no provision in our laws for substituted arrest—an arrest of a family member, friend, or associate of a suspect with no connection whatsoever to the alleged crime. What has the father of the man the Presidency claims to be a ‘phantom’ DG and agency got to do with it? Trust the Tinubu-led APC administration; they are always majoring in minors. The poor man should be released immediately.”
The crisis erupted after the Presidency issued a fierce disclaimer disowning both Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi and the PFIPC.
Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga characterized Adeyemi as a “con artist” who had forged a State House letterhead and a letter of appointment, dated March 2024, purportedly signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
According to government investigators, Adeyemi successfully used these allegedly forged documents to bypass bureaucratic checks, securing high-level access, official office space on the second floor of the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, and even misleading the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to open accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
However, the narrative took a explosive turn when Prince Adeyemi struck back, accusing the Chief of Staff, Gbajabiamila, of corruption. Adeyemi alleged that the friction between them arose after he refused a demand by the Chief of Staff for a 48 per cent cut of a N27.4 billion take-off grant earmarked for the council.
He further claimed that Gbajabiamila had already collected N400 million through a proxy, leaving an outstanding balance of N200 million.
The controversy further deepened into a systemic governance puzzle when opposition leaders highlighted that the supposedly “fictitious” and “phantom” PFIPC was formally captured in the 2026 Appropriation Act with an official budget allocation of N1.303 billion for personnel, overheads, and capital expenditure.
While the Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled a formal hearing for later this month on an eight-count charge of forgery and impersonation filed against Adeyemi, his sudden disappearance while on police bail prompted the Monday morning raid on his parental home.
Legal observers maintain that while the allegations against Adeyemi are severe, targeting his elderly parents severely undermines the rule of law and due process under the current administration.
