Admin I Tuesday, July 14, 2026
ABUJA — The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has issued a bench warrant mandating security agencies to immediately arrest and produce Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew, the controversial self-acclaimed Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
The order was issued by presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Umar, following Adeyemi’s persistent failure to appear in court for his scheduled arraignment on an eight-count criminal charge bordering on felony, forgery, fraud, and impersonation.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, the matter, marked FHC/ABJ/CR/562/2025, was listed as number 12 on the court’s cause list. While a defense counsel, Genesis Francis, announced his appearance on behalf of the defendant, Adeyemi was conspicuously absent from the dock.
Shortly after the case was called, the police prosecution counsel, Wisdom Madaki, made an oral application under Section 394 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, urging the court to issue a warrant of arrest.
Madaki argued that the defendant had repeatedly treated the court with levity, failing to show up to take his plea despite being fully aware of the charges against him.
In a swift counter-argument, the defense lawyer, Genesis Francis, pleaded with the court to reject the application. He claimed that his client’s absence was due to “grave threats to his life”. Francis argued that his client had previously appeared on May 16 and begged the court for administrative leniency.
However, Justice Umar was unimpressed by the defense’s excuse. In his ruling, the judge noted that while the criminal charge was filed on November 27, 2025, the defendant had willfully delayed the progress of the law.
”Since the filing of this charge, the defendant has appeared before this court only once,” Justice Umar observed. “He has subsequently failed to appear before this court on four consecutive dates. The defense has provided no credible or verifiable excuse for this persistent absence”.
Consequently, Justice Umar issued a bench warrant directing the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to track, arrest, and produce the 38-year-old suspect in court on September 30, 2026, for mandatory arraignment.
The case against Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi stems from a highly publicized investigation into the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) — an agency that the Presidency has categorically declared “phantom” and non-existent.
According to court filings, the federal government alleges that between 2024 and 2025, Adeyemi, operating from an office at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, falsely represented himself as a public officer.
The state’s 8-count charge alleges that:
Letterhead Forgery: Adeyemi forged official Presidential Letter Headed Papers dated March 8, 2024, to request land allocation and collaborative offices across the 36 states of the federation.
Signature Forgery: He forged an official appointment letter designating himself as DG, complete with the forged signature of the Chief of Staff to the President, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila.
False Personation: He set up office spaces and sought institutional collaborations under the guise of the State House.
The controversy deepened when civil society groups and opposition figures discovered that the 2026 Federal Budget inexplicably carried an allocation of approximately ₦1.3 billion for the PFIPC.
This sparked public outrage, with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation stepping forward to deny that any government funds had been disbursed to the Council or that any Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) account had been fully operationalized for it.
Further adding to the drama, police investigators recently raided Adeyemi’s family home in Ogbomoso, arresting his father and a family friend in an attempt to locate him. This move drew sharp criticism from prominent human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), who warned that Nigerian law strictly prohibits “proxy arrests” or arresting a relative in lieu of a suspect.
With the court now officially calling in the security apparatus to execute a bench warrant, all eyes are on the Nigeria Police to see if they can produce the self-styled DG to face justice on September 30.
