Justice Muhammed Umar of the Federal High Court in Abuja has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-acclaimed Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), following his repeated failure to appear for arraignment on forgery and impersonation charges.
The judge granted the prosecution’s oral application for the arrest warrant after Adeyemi, who faces an eight-count charge relating to fraud, forgery, and impersonation, failed to attend court for the fifth consecutive time.
Although the matter was listed as No. 12 on the court’s cause list and defence lawyer Mr Genesis Francis announced his appearance for the defendant, Adeyemi was notably absent from proceedings.
Prosecution counsel Wisdom Madaki expressed frustration over the defendant’s persistent non-attendance, telling the court: “My lord, this is the fifth time this case is coming up, and all the adjournments have been at the instance of the defendant.”
Citing Section 394 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, Madaki urged the court to issue an arrest warrant to compel the defendant’s appearance.
The defence counsel opposed the application, attributing Adeyemi’s absence to alleged threats to his life, while noting that his client had attended court on May 16 for a previous arraignment date.
Justice Umar, however, observed that despite the case being filed on November 27, 2025, proceedings did not commence until December 4, 2025, and the defendant had appeared before the court only once since the charge was filed.
“Since then, he has failed to appear before this court on four consecutive dates,” Justice Umar stated.
The judge consequently issued a warrant mandating security agencies to arrest Adeyemi and produce him before the court on September 30 for arraignment.
