The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has disclosed how he narrowly escaped falling victim to a blackmail plot while serving as a minister.He said a man had falsely claimed to have paid his son $2m in exchange for a land allocation.Speaking during a media parley on Thursday, Wike said the alleged blackmailer told the Department of State Services that he handed his son the money at night, only for records to show his son was out of the country at the time.“As I’m sitting as the minister of FCT, somebody has done that, claiming that he knows my children, and that there was a day that he was with my son, and that my son called dad, ‘Is any land available?’, and I said yes. And that they gave him two million U.S. dollars. So look at the game,” Wike said.He narrated how the plot came to light after a contact at the Presidential Villa alerted him that someone was circulating the claims.“Somebody called me from the Villa that he has this thing going on. I said, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘Oh, you get this document for me.’ Somebody’s trying to do it. I said, ‘Okay, no problem.’ I sent my CSO: ‘Go and get this person.’ We got him arrested. He said that two million was given at night, that’s 9 p.m., 8 p.m., two million dollars,” he said.Wike said the timeline collapsed once investigators established his son had left Nigeria on a British Airways flight the same morning the alleged night-time payment was said to have taken place.“But see how, unknown to him, that day in the morning, my son travelled on British Airways. Meanwhile, the money was given at night. So we had to tell the police. They went to British Airways, everything,” he said.He said he was later approached to settle the matter quietly rather than let it play out publicly, an offer he rejected outright.“One of them came to me and said, ‘Look, before it embarrasses you, why not settle it?’ I said, ‘Settle what? Settle what? This is cheap blackmail. I will not allow that.’ And we didn’t do it,” he said.Related NewsTinubu has done his best, Peter Obi agrees with AdeboyeVIDEO: Fubara arrives Rivers assembly to present 2026 budget2027: Ondo APC youths urge elders to resolve assembly primaries crisisWike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. He said a man had falsely claimed to have paid his son $2m in exchange for a land allocation.Speaking during a media parley on Thursday, Wike said the alleged blackmailer told the Department of State Services that he handed his son the money at night, only for records to show his son was out of the country at the time.“As I’m sitting as the minister of FCT, somebody has done that, claiming that he knows my children, and that there was a day that he was with my son, and that my son called dad, ‘Is any land available?’, and I said yes. And that they gave him two million U.S. dollars. So look at the game,” Wike said.He narrated how the plot came to light after a contact at the Presidential Villa alerted him that someone was circulating the claims.“Somebody called me from the Villa that he has this thing going on. I said, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘Oh, you get this document for me.’ Somebody’s trying to do it. I said, ‘Okay, no problem.’ I sent my CSO: ‘Go and get this person.’ We got him arrested. He said that two million was given at night, that’s 9 p.m., 8 p.m., two million dollars,” he said.Wike said the timeline collapsed once investigators established his son had left Nigeria on a British Airways flight the same morning the alleged night-time payment was said to have taken place.“But see how, unknown to him, that day in the morning, my son travelled on British Airways. Meanwhile, the money was given at night. So we had to tell the police. They went to British Airways, everything,” he said.He said he was later approached to settle the matter quietly rather than let it play out publicly, an offer he rejected outright.“One of them came to me and said, ‘Look, before it embarrasses you, why not settle it?’ I said, ‘Settle what? Settle what? This is cheap blackmail. I will not allow that.’ And we didn’t do it,” he said.Related NewsTinubu has done his best, Peter Obi agrees with AdeboyeVIDEO: Fubara arrives Rivers assembly to present 2026 budget2027: Ondo APC youths urge elders to resolve assembly primaries crisisWike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. Speaking during a media parley on Thursday, Wike said the alleged blackmailer told the Department of State Services that he handed his son the money at night, only for records to show his son was out of the country at the time.“As I’m sitting as the minister of FCT, somebody has done that, claiming that he knows my children, and that there was a day that he was with my son, and that my son called dad, ‘Is any land available?’, and I said yes. And that they gave him two million U.S. dollars. So look at the game,” Wike said.He narrated how the plot came to light after a contact at the Presidential Villa alerted him that someone was circulating the claims.“Somebody called me from the Villa that he has this thing going on. I said, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘Oh, you get this document for me.’ Somebody’s trying to do it. I said, ‘Okay, no problem.’ I sent my CSO: ‘Go and get this person.’ We got him arrested. He said that two million was given at night, that’s 9 p.m., 8 p.m., two million dollars,” he said.Wike said the timeline collapsed once investigators established his son had left Nigeria on a British Airways flight the same morning the alleged night-time payment was said to have taken place.“But see how, unknown to him, that day in the morning, my son travelled on British Airways. Meanwhile, the money was given at night. So we had to tell the police. They went to British Airways, everything,” he said.He said he was later approached to settle the matter quietly rather than let it play out publicly, an offer he rejected outright.“One of them came to me and said, ‘Look, before it embarrasses you, why not settle it?’ I said, ‘Settle what? Settle what? This is cheap blackmail. I will not allow that.’ And we didn’t do it,” he said.Related NewsTinubu has done his best, Peter Obi agrees with AdeboyeVIDEO: Fubara arrives Rivers assembly to present 2026 budget2027: Ondo APC youths urge elders to resolve assembly primaries crisisWike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. “As I’m sitting as the minister of FCT, somebody has done that, claiming that he knows my children, and that there was a day that he was with my son, and that my son called dad, ‘Is any land available?’, and I said yes. And that they gave him two million U.S. dollars. So look at the game,” Wike said.He narrated how the plot came to light after a contact at the Presidential Villa alerted him that someone was circulating the claims.“Somebody called me from the Villa that he has this thing going on. I said, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘Oh, you get this document for me.’ Somebody’s trying to do it. I said, ‘Okay, no problem.’ I sent my CSO: ‘Go and get this person.’ We got him arrested. He said that two million was given at night, that’s 9 p.m., 8 p.m., two million dollars,” he said.Wike said the timeline collapsed once investigators established his son had left Nigeria on a British Airways flight the same morning the alleged night-time payment was said to have taken place.“But see how, unknown to him, that day in the morning, my son travelled on British Airways. Meanwhile, the money was given at night. So we had to tell the police. They went to British Airways, everything,” he said.He said he was later approached to settle the matter quietly rather than let it play out publicly, an offer he rejected outright.“One of them came to me and said, ‘Look, before it embarrasses you, why not settle it?’ I said, ‘Settle what? Settle what? This is cheap blackmail. I will not allow that.’ And we didn’t do it,” he said.Related NewsTinubu has done his best, Peter Obi agrees with AdeboyeVIDEO: Fubara arrives Rivers assembly to present 2026 budget2027: Ondo APC youths urge elders to resolve assembly primaries crisisWike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. He narrated how the plot came to light after a contact at the Presidential Villa alerted him that someone was circulating the claims.“Somebody called me from the Villa that he has this thing going on. I said, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘Oh, you get this document for me.’ Somebody’s trying to do it. I said, ‘Okay, no problem.’ I sent my CSO: ‘Go and get this person.’ We got him arrested. He said that two million was given at night, that’s 9 p.m., 8 p.m., two million dollars,” he said.Wike said the timeline collapsed once investigators established his son had left Nigeria on a British Airways flight the same morning the alleged night-time payment was said to have taken place.“But see how, unknown to him, that day in the morning, my son travelled on British Airways. Meanwhile, the money was given at night. So we had to tell the police. They went to British Airways, everything,” he said.He said he was later approached to settle the matter quietly rather than let it play out publicly, an offer he rejected outright.“One of them came to me and said, ‘Look, before it embarrasses you, why not settle it?’ I said, ‘Settle what? Settle what? This is cheap blackmail. I will not allow that.’ And we didn’t do it,” he said.Related NewsTinubu has done his best, Peter Obi agrees with AdeboyeVIDEO: Fubara arrives Rivers assembly to present 2026 budget2027: Ondo APC youths urge elders to resolve assembly primaries crisisWike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. “Somebody called me from the Villa that he has this thing going on. I said, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘Oh, you get this document for me.’ Somebody’s trying to do it. I said, ‘Okay, no problem.’ I sent my CSO: ‘Go and get this person.’ We got him arrested. He said that two million was given at night, that’s 9 p.m., 8 p.m., two million dollars,” he said.Wike said the timeline collapsed once investigators established his son had left Nigeria on a British Airways flight the same morning the alleged night-time payment was said to have taken place.“But see how, unknown to him, that day in the morning, my son travelled on British Airways. Meanwhile, the money was given at night. So we had to tell the police. They went to British Airways, everything,” he said.He said he was later approached to settle the matter quietly rather than let it play out publicly, an offer he rejected outright.“One of them came to me and said, ‘Look, before it embarrasses you, why not settle it?’ I said, ‘Settle what? Settle what? This is cheap blackmail. I will not allow that.’ And we didn’t do it,” he said.Related NewsTinubu has done his best, Peter Obi agrees with AdeboyeVIDEO: Fubara arrives Rivers assembly to present 2026 budget2027: Ondo APC youths urge elders to resolve assembly primaries crisisWike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. Wike said the timeline collapsed once investigators established his son had left Nigeria on a British Airways flight the same morning the alleged night-time payment was said to have taken place.“But see how, unknown to him, that day in the morning, my son travelled on British Airways. Meanwhile, the money was given at night. So we had to tell the police. They went to British Airways, everything,” he said.He said he was later approached to settle the matter quietly rather than let it play out publicly, an offer he rejected outright.“One of them came to me and said, ‘Look, before it embarrasses you, why not settle it?’ I said, ‘Settle what? Settle what? This is cheap blackmail. I will not allow that.’ And we didn’t do it,” he said.Related NewsTinubu has done his best, Peter Obi agrees with AdeboyeVIDEO: Fubara arrives Rivers assembly to present 2026 budget2027: Ondo APC youths urge elders to resolve assembly primaries crisisWike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. “But see how, unknown to him, that day in the morning, my son travelled on British Airways. Meanwhile, the money was given at night. So we had to tell the police. They went to British Airways, everything,” he said.He said he was later approached to settle the matter quietly rather than let it play out publicly, an offer he rejected outright.“One of them came to me and said, ‘Look, before it embarrasses you, why not settle it?’ I said, ‘Settle what? Settle what? This is cheap blackmail. I will not allow that.’ And we didn’t do it,” he said.Related NewsTinubu has done his best, Peter Obi agrees with AdeboyeVIDEO: Fubara arrives Rivers assembly to present 2026 budget2027: Ondo APC youths urge elders to resolve assembly primaries crisisWike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. He said he was later approached to settle the matter quietly rather than let it play out publicly, an offer he rejected outright.“One of them came to me and said, ‘Look, before it embarrasses you, why not settle it?’ I said, ‘Settle what? Settle what? This is cheap blackmail. I will not allow that.’ And we didn’t do it,” he said.Related NewsTinubu has done his best, Peter Obi agrees with AdeboyeVIDEO: Fubara arrives Rivers assembly to present 2026 budget2027: Ondo APC youths urge elders to resolve assembly primaries crisisWike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. “One of them came to me and said, ‘Look, before it embarrasses you, why not settle it?’ I said, ‘Settle what? Settle what? This is cheap blackmail. I will not allow that.’ And we didn’t do it,” he said.Related NewsTinubu has done his best, Peter Obi agrees with AdeboyeVIDEO: Fubara arrives Rivers assembly to present 2026 budget2027: Ondo APC youths urge elders to resolve assembly primaries crisisWike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. Wike cited the episode to argue that public officials are routine targets for fabricated allegations designed to force concessions or damage reputations, drawing a comparison with the allegations Adeyemi has made against the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.“There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. “There are people you target in government to do bad thing to the boss. This is chief of staff. This is the person who is in charge of finance and secretary to government. If you want to embarrass any government, this is the first target,” he said.He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. He argued that Adeyemi’s decision to make the allegations publicly and then avoid security agencies stood in contrast with how such matters should ordinarily be resolved.“If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. “If it was indeed correct, eyeball to eyeball, go to the security agency. Look at my communications with him. Look at the phone I’ve been talking with him. These are what we have done,” he said.The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. The dispute began after Adeyemi held a press conference on June 25, accusing Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 per cent of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council’s alleged N27.4bn take-off grant, as well as receiving N400m through proxies linked to appointments in the agency.The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. The Presidency maintains PFIPC is fictitious, though it had secured office space at the federal secretariat, opened CBN accounts, and received a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. Tinubu has ordered the ICPC to investigate within 30 days.Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. Adeyemi is separately standing trial at the Federal High Court, Abuja, on forgery charges, including forging an appointment letter bearing Gbajabiamila’s signature.He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. He is due back in court on July 27. Gbajabiamila’s lawyers have since threatened him with a N10bn defamation suit, dismissing his allegations as “false and gravely defamatory.”The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men. The Presidency has backed Gbajabiamila, with Tinubu passing a vote of confidence on him, but rights groups, including the CDHR and lawyer Femi Falana, have called for an independent probe of both men.