The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has filed amended charges against Adeniyi Adeyemi, the purported Director-General of the non-existenPresidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC.
Prosecution counsel, Sylvanus Tahir, SAN, told the court that the Commission expanded the previous 22-count charge to 36 counts in the amended charge.
Adeyemi is accused of parading himself as DG of the PFIPC, an agency the Federal Government has said does not exist.
The ICPC alleged that the defendant used the purported council to defraud and mislead unsuspecting members of the public.
The amended charges were filed before the Federal High Court.
Tahir said that the four suspects are Aminu Abdullahi, Ogaba Harry, Florence Omameh and Patricia Akhigbe and included in the new charge.
The matter was originally filed by the Nigerian police.
Monday’s proceedings, which originally slated for hearing of Adeyemi’s bail application, was halted because of the charge amendment, requiring all defendants, including Adeyemi, to enter their pleas.
However, the plea taking could not proceed because the fourth defendant, Omameh, was absent from court on health grounds.
The rest of the defendants were present in court.
”Her unavailability in court has constrained the prosecution from proceeding with the arraignment, this being a criminal charge,” Tahir said.
Tahir argued that an accused person has to be present in court throughout the trial, subject to the exception stated therein.
He urged the court for a short adjournment to allow the fourth defendant time to recover and enter her plea.
Adeyemi’s counsel, Ibrahim Angulu, SAN, did not object to the amended charge or adjournment.
However, he reminded the court of Adeyemi’s prolonged detention.
Meanwhile, Justice Yusuf Halilu adjourned until November 18,2026for the arraignment of the suspects.
He, however, ordered that Adeyemi should be taken back to Kuje Correctional Facility and the other defendants to return to the ICPC detention facility pending their arraignment in Court.
