The police have reportedly arrested the father of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-styled “Director-General” of the disowned Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), after storming the family’s residence in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.
According to reports, Adeyemi’s father was taken into custody alongside a family friend who had visited the home on Monday morning, leaving his elderly mother reportedly in shock.
The arrest was confirmed by human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), who condemned the action and questioned the legality of the police operation.
“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 said.
The development has sparked concerns over the practice of substituted arrests, which legal experts argue may violate due process when individuals other than suspects are detained in place of those directly accused.
Meanwhile, the office of the accountant-general of the federation (OAGF) says the presidential foreign intervention promotion council (PFIPC) has no operational account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Recall that the federal government granted a waiver to the controversial PFIPC to recruit 300 members of staff in August 2025.
A review of the 2026 Appropriation Act also indicates that the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council is expressly listed under the presidency, with a total budget of N1,302,978,784.
The allocation includes N802,978,783 for personnel costs, N200,000,001 for overhead expenditure and N300,000,000 for capital projects.
Responding during the weekend, Bawa Mokwa, director of public relations at the OAGF, noted that neither public funds nor salaries have been paid to the organisation.
Mokwa noted that although an application was made to open a CBN account, the process was never completed because the required documentation to activate the account was not submitted.
𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐨𝐟 ‘𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞’ 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐃𝐆 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐛𝐚𝐣𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬
A video of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the man at the centre of the alleged ₦1.3bn “ghost agency” scandal, has resurfaced online on Monday as the controversy… pic.twitter.com/HdcvGX3ti6
— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) July 6, 2026
“You cannot open an account at the CBN without authorization from the Accountant General. The accountant general will authorise them to open an account at the CBN,” Mokwa said.
He pointed out that Adeniyi Adeyemi, the convener, approached the OAGF and presented an appointment letter, but alleged that the document related to an already existing agency rather than the PFIPC.
Mokwa said that the account-opening process began based on the document that was presented, but the account could not become operational because the names of the officials expected to serve as account signatories were never provided.
He said there was no channel through which the office of the accountant-general could release government funds to the agency due to the absence of an operational account.
He noted that the council funding is expected to operate under the 2026 budget and has not yet reached the stage where it can receive government funding.
The director, however, denied reports that salaries had been paid to workers of the agency, saying it had not recruited any staff through the procedures required for federal establishments.
“Based on our knowledge, he has not employed anybody.”
Mokwa explained that before any federal agency can recruit workers and place them on the government payroll, it must first obtain the necessary approvals from the Federal Character Commission (FCC), the Budget Office and the Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC).
