ABUJA — Pa Adetunji Adeniyi, father of Adeyemi, the self-styled director-general of the “phantom” Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC, has said police operatives raided his home thrice in two days, destroyed parts of his property, confiscated phones, and arrested him while searching for his son.
On Monday, security personnel stormed the family’s residence in Ogbomoso, Osun State and arrested Adeyemi’s father, alongside a family friend who was visiting the home.
Meanwhile, the National Chairman of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Prof. Sadiq Gombe has asked the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila to resign now.
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This came as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Mr. Nyesom Wike, has challenged Adeyemi, to stop evading scrutiny and substantiate his allegations against the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, rather than go into hiding.
Recall that the embattled self-styled Director-General of the council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, on Wednesday, declared his readiness to cooperate fully with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to unravel how the “ghost” agency secured a whopping N1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 budget.
Adeyemi who spoke from his hideout, during an explosive social media interview with internet personality, VeryDarkMan, stated that he is prepared to turn over vital official documents to security agencies to assist ongoing investigations.
Also recall that on Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu had issued a 30-day ultimatum to the ICPC to investigate the council, which the Presidency insisted, is non-existent and completely fraudulent.
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Activist and lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, was among the first to relay the raid of senior Adeyemi’s home to the public.
He had said: “Police have now stormed the house of the parents of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, Plot 3, Adeniyi Dynasty, behind Technical College, Road Safety Area, Ogbomoso.
“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?”
Residents of the neighbourhood also confirmed the incident.
Meanwhile, speaking with BBC Yoruba on Wednesday, Adeyemi’s father said armed operatives first gained access to his compound by scaling the fence and damaging a section of the barbed wire around the property, before identifying themselves as government security personnel.
According to him, the operatives searched every part of his house after he opened the door.
They jumped fence into my compound, destroyed security wire
“They jumped the fence into my compound and destroyed the security wire at the entrance before entering. They banged my door and identified themselves as government security officials. When I opened the door, they rushed in and searched the entire house, including all the cupboards,” he said.
He added that the operatives returned about 2:30p.m., after the initial search about 1p.m., and confiscated the family’s mobile phones before leaving.
He said they returned about 11:30p.m. the following day.
The senior Adeyemi said the operatives did not explain why his son was being sought, adding that he is unaware of Adeyemi’s perceived wrong-doing.
“I don’t know what my son did. They only said the government was looking for him. I told them he said he worked for the government in Abuja, but I have never visited his workplace,” he said.
The father said he could not link the allegations against him with his child’s character.
“My son avoids trouble. Since childhood, he has never been someone who fights or causes problems. Everything they said he did is difficult for me to believe,” Adetunji said.
They questioned me about my son’s whereabouts
The father said security operatives questioned him about his son’s whereabouts and took him into custody when he could not provide information about his son’s address in Abuja.
“They asked why I did not know where my son lives. I told them he lives in Abuja. After asking several questions, they told me to follow them to the police station, and that was how I was arrested,” the dad said.
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He added that the incident has left him traumatised.
“Even if one is brave, one would be afraid of what this is. Is it trouble that they want me to pass through until my death?”
“My body is not okay; every rumour that I have been receiving about my son does not make me happy because everything you said that my child did. My son is not a troublesome individual,” he added.
On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to probe the younger Adeyemi and the agency he purportedly led.
Resign now, SDP National Chairman to Gbaja
Answering questions from journalists, yesterday in Abuja after the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC meeting, Gombe said: “I think if decorum prevails, there are a lot of things that need to be done. There is no way a public officer will be accused of something of this magnitude and he will still remain glued to his position.
“Gbajabiamila needs to step aside, not just as chairman of this important committee, but also his position as Chief of Staff to the President. He represents one of the greatest institutions, which is the Presidency. The right thing to do is for him to step aside for a proper independent probe into the allegation and let them prove beyond reasonable doubt that he is innocent.”
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On the composition of membership of harmonisation of state policy, the SDP chairman said: “How can the President justify settng up one of the most important committees in the lives of this administration and nation (state police) and announced the same person accused of this magnitude of offence against the constitution of the land to lead this committee?
“I think we need to be decorous. We need to show the world we are really ready for this democracy and ready to lead Nigeria and Africa. But the way we are going, I don’t think it is fair to Nigerians. We are a country of about 200 million Nigerians, it won’t be about one man.”
Stop running, prove your allegations against Gbaja, Wike tells Adeyemi
Meanwhile, speaking during a media chat, yesterday in Abuja, Wike said those closest to the seat of power, particularly chiefs of staff, secretaries to the government and those in charge of finance, are often deliberately targeted by persons seeking to embarrass a sitting government.
He said if the allegations are genuine, Adeyemi should confront the Chief of Staff and the security agencies directly instead of disappearing.
“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security. He cannot say this,” Wike said, adding that the Chief of Staff’s phone records and communications with Adeyemi are available for scrutiny.
Wike also gave an account of what he described as a separate blackmail attempt targeting his family, in which he said unnamed persons falsely claimed his son had helped facilitate payment involving government land, an allegation he said was fabricated and timed to embarrass him as FCT minister.
He said his Chief Security Officer moved to have the accuser arrested after the claim surfaced, and that the timeline given by the accuser did not match his son’s actual travel movements on the date in question.
Recounting an approach made to him to quietly resolve the matter, Wike said he rebuffed the suggestion outright. “Why not settle? Settle what? This is blackmail. I would not allow that. I wouldn’t do it,” he said.
He questioned why anyone should treat unproven claims against public officials as something to be managed rather than investigated while also dismissing claims that Adeyemi is in hiding for fear of his life.
“Which life? Is your life bigger than the lives of other people in the country?” he asked, arguing that allegations of this nature should be probed to their conclusion rather than used as grounds to demand the removal of an official.
ADC calls for independent panel of inquiry
Meanwhile, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, yesterday, called for the constitution of an independent panel of inquiry into the activities of PFIPC, an alleged fake agency headed by Adeyemi.
National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, speaking on Politics Today, a Channels TV programme, said: “We are glad that the president acknowledged that there is a need for further investigation, but what we are saying is that you cannot be a judge in your own case. Nemo judex in causa sua. It is on that principle that justice should not only be done but seen to be done. When you hand over an investigation of a scandal that involves your government, your presidency into an agency of government, then people don’t think you are serious.
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“People don’t think you are really looking for an answer. They think that you are just trying to absolve yourself. That is why we are saying it is wrong and only an independent panel of enquiry will do, anything short of that is drama.”
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