Man Who Built a Fake Federal Agency Inside the Secretariat Finally Faces Judge in Abuja

A man accused of inventing an entire federal agency out of thin air appeared before the Federal High Court in Abuja this week, pleading not guilty to eight counts of conspiracy, forgery and impersonation tied to a scheme that reportedly drew roughly $1 million from the Nigerian government’s budget.

Prosecutors say Adeniyi Adeyemi created a body called the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) in 2024, naming himself director-general, and kept it running for more than a year before his arrest in October 2025. In that time, he secured office space inside the Federal Secretariat complex in Abuja and obtained presidential stationery, which he used to request cooperation from other government agencies. Prosecutors say at least some of those requests were honored, though no other officials have been indicted for colluding with him.

Investigators have traced 34 bank accounts to Adeyemi, nine of them opened in the names of government agencies. He also recruited staff to work for the fictitious council and forged a letter of appointment purportedly from President Bola Tinubu, bearing the apparent signature of presidential chief of staff Femi Gbajabiamila.

Gbajabiamila is the official who petitioned for Adeyemi’s arrest. Two alleged accomplices, identified only as “Femi” and “Anu,” remain at large.

A Long Road to Arraignment

The Premium Times of Nigeria reported that Wednesday’s arraignment came “after several failed attempts to bring him before the court,” delays attributed to requests from his lawyers, his own absences, and a judge’s scheduling conflicts elsewhere. After Adeyemi failed to appear for a July arraignment, a judge issued a bench warrant, and he was arrested within 12 hours — though it still took months to get him in front of a judge.

Through his lawyers, Adeyemi said he missed the July hearing because he “feared for his life,” and he wrote an open letter to President Tinubu requesting protection. The Premium Times noted that he showed little sign of fear when he finally arrived in court Wednesday, walking in cheerfully wearing a baseball cap and a white kaftan.

The judge remanded Adeyemi to Kuje Correctional Center. He has told reporters in media interviews that the PFIPC was a legitimate operation and that he was working to attract foreign investment into Nigeria.

Questions About Who Else Knew

The case has drawn wide attention in Nigeria, a country where frustration over official corruption is nothing new, but where many have still been startled that one man could run a fake high-level government agency for months without detection.

Some critics of the Tinubu administration have suggested Adeyemi could not have sustained the scheme so long without paying off officials to look the other way. Adeyemi himself has claimed he paid Gbajabiamila, the presidential chief of staff, roughly 400 million naira — about $300,000 — to help forge his fake presidential appointment letter.

Adeyemi has called on President Tinubu to set up an independent anti-corruption panel to investigate his case.