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PFIPC: Adeyemi won’t fight FG alone – Atiku *Takes case to Trump
Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), is not letting down on his involvement in the case of Adeniyi Adeyemi, the controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), currently in the custody of the Nigerian police authorities for allegedly running a fake outfit.
Atiku, who has shown more than scant interest in the matter since it broke into the public domain last month, with calls on independent inquiries to get at the root of the matter, is upping the ante by taking the case beyond the shores of Nigeria, with Tuesday’s arrest of the embattled DG.
Police had confirmed the arrest, few hours after Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court, Abuja, issued a bench warrant ordering his apprehension for failing consistently to attend court proceedings where he is being tried for offences relating to fraud and forgery.
The intervention of Atiku, former Nigerian Vice President, is coming via a United States lobby firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, which has been presenting his case on varied issues before the American polity.
In what is seen as upping the ante, the firm has informed that it would be briefing members of President Donald Trump’s administration on the latest development, specifically, the arrest of Adeyemi.
The Washington-based firm disclosed this in a statement posted on its X handle on Wednesday, hours after Adeyemi was arrested by the Nigeria Police Force following a bench warrant issued by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
The firm claimed Adeyemi’s arrest came as it was preparing to facilitate discussions between him and senior members of the Trump administration over allegations he had made against top Nigerian government officials.
The group, said in a statement: “We learned a short time ago that Mr. Adeyemi has been arrested by Nigerian law enforcement just as we were preparing for him to speak with senior members of President @realDonaldTrump’s Administration.
“We are told that his arrest occurred shortly after it became public that we were in contact with him and just before he was expected to provide us with evidentiary materials and a sworn statement regarding his account.
“Those materials were to be transmitted to senior members of the Trump Administration, who had requested that we provide all available information concerning Mr. Adeyemi’s allegations.
“Tomorrow, we will report that Mr. Adeyemi has been arrested. We will also report our concerns regarding the circumstances surrounding his arrest, including information we have received suggesting that his prompt arrest was pushed by President Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, to prevent Mr. Adeyemi from presenting evidence to the U.S. government. We will keep the public updated on developments,” it added.
The statement followed an earlier post by the firm’s managing partner, Karl Von Batten, in which he said he had briefed members of Trump’s team on Adeyemi’s allegations and planned to engage members of the U.S. Congress.
“This is Dr. Von Batten. I just spoke with Mr. Adeyemi. I found him to be sincere and credible. Based on our discussion, I believe his allegations warrant an investigation by Congress, @StateDept, @USTreasury,@USGAO, and other relevant U.S. agencies due to the alleged misappropriation of U.S.-funded World Bank loans by senior members of the #Nigerian government. This past weekend, I briefed senior members of President
@realDonaldTrump’s team on these allegations, and our team will begin briefing Members of Congress this week.”
Adeyemi was arrested on Tuesday in Osun State by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force’s Intelligence Response Team, hours after Justice Mohammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja issued a bench warrant for his arrest over alleged conspiracy, forgery and impersonation.
The Nigeria Police accused Adeyemi of forging official government documents, including a purported presidential appointment letter allegedly signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and falsely presenting himself as the Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, an agency the Presidency has said does not exist.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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