Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, has filed a N15 billion defamation lawsuit against Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi over allegations that he demanded a 48 per cent kickback from a N27.3 billion take-off grant meant for a federal agency.
The suit, filed at the FCT High Court in Abuja, came after Adeyemi publicly claimed during a June 25, 2026 press conference that Gbajabiamila demanded the kickback, allegedly collected N400 million through a proxy and requested an additional N200 million.
Gbajabiamila denied the allegations, insisting he has never met, spoken with or had any dealings with Adeyemi. He described the claims as false, malicious and damaging to his reputation.
Before filing the suit, the Chief of Staff had given Adeyemi 72 hours to withdraw the allegations and apologise publicly, but he allegedly failed to do so and continued repeating the claims in media interviews.
In the lawsuit, Gbajabiamila is asking the court to award him N10 billion in general damages, N5 billion in aggravated damages, N200 million as legal costs, and order Adeyemi to publish a full apology and retraction in five national newspapers and pin the apology on all his social media platforms for 30 days.
The court documents also revealed that Adeyemi allegedly admitted during an interview with social media influencer VeryDarkMan that he had never met Gbajabiamila in person or verified his identity, saying all his dealings were through a man identified as the late Babatunde Tanimola.
Gbajabiamila argued that despite those admissions, Adeyemi continued making the allegations, including during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
Meanwhile, Adeyemi was recently arrested in Osun State following a court-issued warrant. He is also facing a separate criminal trial over allegations of forged presidential documents and appointment letters, which prosecutors say formed the basis of his claims.
The FCT High Court has directed Adeyemi to respond to the lawsuit within 14 days after being served, or risk judgment being entered against him.
