The father of Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-acclaimed Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, has expressed anguish over the allegations against his son, insisting his son is “well-behaved” and lamenting that the rumours surrounding the case have left him distressed.

The father spoke after security operatives raided his residence and took him away for questioning while searching for his son.

Speaking in a Wednesday interview with BBC Yoruba at his Ogbomosho, Oyo residence, Adetunji Adeniyi described his son as “soft-hearted” and “well-behaved,” saying he was shocked by the allegations against him.

“My child is not a troublesome person who will do that type of thing that they are looking for him,” he said.

Recounting the raid, the elderly man alleged that security operatives scaled the fence into his compound before forcing their way into the house.

“They jumped into my compound through the fence. They spoilt the barbed wire and started banging on the door. I asked who was at the door, and they identified themselves as government security personnel. They barged inside and started scattering everywhere, searching everywhere,” he said.

According to him, the operatives searched the premises but failed to find his son.

“They came back again before they eventually left,” he added.

Adetunji said the operatives never informed him of the specific offence his son allegedly committed.

“They did not tell me what my son did. They just told me that the government was looking for him.”

He said the officers asked him about his son’s workplace, but he could only tell them that Adeyemi had informed the family he worked for the government in Abuja.

“They asked me where my son works. I said I do not know, but he told me he works with the government in Abuja. I have never been to his office before,” he said.

The elderly man added that he had recently seen his son before he returned to Abuja.

“He came home recently and told me he was returning to Abuja, his workplace. The police then questioned why I did not know his whereabouts. I asked if I was supposed to stop him from going back to work. After the questioning, they arrested me before I was later released.”

Expressing concern over the development, he said, “My child is soft-hearted and well-behaved. I am not physically fit, and all the rumours I am hearing are making me unhappy. I am surprised by the allegations.”

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has faulted the police over the treatment of Adeyemi’s father, saying taking the elderly man to a police station could not be justified under the law.

Speaking during an interview with Arise News on Tuesday, Falana, who is representing Adeyemi, said the Nigeria Police later informed him that the elderly man was not formally arrested but invited to assist investigators.

“The reported arrest of Mr Adeyemi’s father cannot be justified under the Constitution, under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, and under the Nigeria Police Act,” Falana said.

He explained that police officers later told him the elderly man was invited to assist investigators and was released after making a statement.

“I got a call from the police officers in Abuja this evening, where I was informed that the old man wasn’t really arrested. The police merely invited him to take them to a particular place as part of their investigation, and that he was asked to make a statement,” he said.

Falana, however, maintained that the police should have obtained the statement at the man’s residence rather than taking him to a police station.

Police operatives had stormed the Adeyemi family residence after failing to locate the suspect and subsequently questioned his father over his whereabouts.

A neighbour had alleged that officers copied contacts from the elderly man’s phone before releasing him.

Adeyemi is facing an eight-count charge before the Federal High Court in Abuja over allegations of forgery, impersonation and operating a fictitious government agency.

The controversy stems from his claim to be the Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, an agency the Presidency has repeatedly insisted does not exist.

He also claimed during a television interview that he paid ?400 million to secure the appointment, an allegation the Presidency has strongly denied.

On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate the activities of the purported council, describing it as a fictitious body with no legal backing and ordering the anti-graft agency to submit its findings within 30 days. (The PUNCH)

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