ABUJA, NIGERIA — Social commentator Isaac Fayose has launched a blistering attack on the Federal Government following the dramatic arrest of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-styled Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
Taking to social media, Fayose, who is the younger brother of former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose, described the development as a classic case of selective justice. He questioned why the government was quick to arrest the accuser while shielding the powerful political figures implicated in the multi-million naira job-for-money bribery scandal.
“Only in Nigeria”: Fayose Exposes Systemic Contradictions
Fayose expressed utter disbelief at the Presidency’s insistence that the PFIPC is a “fictitious” and “non-existent” agency, pointing to several official government processes that the body had successfully bypassed.
“The fake PFIPC Director-General, Adeyemi, has been arrested, yet the individuals he mentioned are still walking free. This is someone who was given an office at the Federal Secretariat, facilitated by government officials, operated an official CBN account, and had ₦24 billion allocated in the national budget. Government magic indeed. Only in Nigeria.”
Fayosejoined a growing chorus of analysts demanding an independent investigation into the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, over allegations of facilitating the scheme.
Inside the ₦400 Million Bribery Allegations
The scandal blew wide open after Adeyemi alleged that he did not simply forge his presidential appointment. Instead, he claimed that he borrowed ₦400 million to pay an intermediary to secure his position as Director-General of the PFIPC.
Adeyemi asserted that the individuals who lent him the massive sum have already petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover their funds. He also pointed to the fact that the PFIPC appeared with a designated budget allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act—arguing that a completely “fake” agency could not possibly find its way into the official national budget without high-level internal cooperation.
The Dramatic Arrest in Osun State
Adeyemi’s arrest on Tuesday came shortly after Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
- The Court Absences: The prosecution, led by police lawyer Wisdom Madaki, had complained that Adeyemi had repeatedly stalled the trial. Out of five scheduled court dates for his arraignment on an eight-count charge of forgery and impersonation, the defendant had only appeared once.
- Fear for Life: Adeyemi’s defense counsel, Genesis Francis, argued that his client stayed away from court because of credible threats to his life, pointing to a letter Adeyemi wrote to President Bola Tinubu stating he wanted to “stay alive” to stand trial. This followed the mysterious death of an intermediary, Babatunde Tanimola, who allegedly died in an Abuja hotel fire in October 2025.
- The Nab: Unmoved by the defense’s pleas, the judge ordered security forces to produce him. Adeyemi was subsequently tracked down and arrested by operatives of the Force Intelligence Department’s Intelligence Response Team (FID/IRT) at his hideout in Osun State.
A Case of “Selective Blindness”?
For critics like Isaac Fayose, the police’s swift execution of the arrest warrant against Adeyemi contrasts sharply with their inaction regarding the top-ranking government officials named in the scandal.
While the Presidency, through Special Adviser Bayo Onanuga, maintains that Gbajabiamila was the first to petition security agencies about the “forgery” back in 2025, the public remains deeply skeptical.
The core question driving public outrage remains unanswered: How did a supposedly fraudulent operator secure physical office space at the Federal Secretariat, open central bank accounts, and get a multi-billion naira slot in the national budget without the complicity of powerful insiders?
