Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, has denied meeting with Adeniyi Adeyemi, self-styled Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).

Adeyemi had leveled allegations of murder and bribery against the Chief of Staff at a press conference last month.

He had accused Gbajabiamila of demanding a share of the council’s alleged take-off grant, receiving money through proxies, abusing his office and participating in a criminal cover-up.

Adeyemi also said he fell out with Gbajabiamila after paying an upfront of N200 million to secure the job, alleging that a balance of N200 million was being expected.

But in a cease-and-desist letter, which Kemi Pinheiro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), issued on his behalf, Gbajabiamila demanded that Adeyemi take down all materials, including transcripts, videos and recordings, from all platforms, publish a full retraction and apology in at least five national newspapers and across all social media platforms through which the press conference was disseminated, and provide a written undertaking to refrain from further publications.

In the letter, Gbajabiamila argued that he has never had any contact whatsoever with Adeyemi.

Pinheiro labelled the allegations from Adeyemi as “malicious, reckless and entirely without factual foundation” and targeted at showing Gbajabiamila as “corrupt, morally bankrupt, and a murderer”.

The law firm said “unless the foregoing demands are fully complied with within 72 hours of your receipt of this letter, our Client shall, without further reference to you, commence appropriate legal proceedings against you”, including lodging a criminal petition/complaint against “you for criminal defamation of our client in line with extant laws of the F.C.T.

“You have never at any time met, interacted with, communicated with, or had any form of personal or official dealing whatsoever with him,” the lawyers wrote on behalf of the Chief of Staff to the President, adding that the decision to “fabricate and publish allegations against a person with whom you have had absolutely no relationship or interaction underscores the reckless, baseless and malicious nature of your publication.”

The letter also cited the active criminal proceedings as an aggravating circumstance.

“It is even more disturbing to our client that you resorted to defaming him through your press statements after a criminal Charge had been filed against you,” it stated, noting that the June 25 press conference allegations directly touch on the counts already before the court.

“Trial by media remains unknown to Nigerian law and cannot be a substitute for due process,” the lawyers added.

He said failure to comply, the letter warned, would trigger both criminal defamation proceedings under FCT law and a civil suit seeking N10bn in aggravated and exemplary damages, to be paid to a charity of Gbajabiamila’s choice, alongside a perpetual injunction and a court order compelling the apology.

The PFIPC was listed in the 2026 Appropriation Act as the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council and received over N1.3bn in budget allocations, including approximately N803m for personnel costs, N200m for overhead and N300m for capital expenditure.

In Adeyemi’s defence, human rights lawyer Femi Falana said the Presidency lacked the constitutional authority to exonerate anyone in the matter and called for an independent probe of both Gbajabiamila and Adeyemi. (Daily Trust)

Update news