Adeniyi Adeyemi, the director-general of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), has asked the House of Representatives to issue an administrative clearance allowing him to testify at the lower chamber’s investigative hearing.
In a statement released by his legal team on Sunday, Adeyemi, who is currently in custody, said any legislative report on the PFIPC scandal without his testimony would be “fundamentally flawed”.
Adeyemi’s legal team is led by Festus Akhigbe, a lawyer.
Last week, officials of the federal government appeared before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the PFIPC controversy and the ₦1.3 billion allocated to the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act.
During the committee’s hearing last Wednesday, Tunji Disu, inspector-general of police (IGP), declined to produce Adeyemi before the ad hoc committee, saying the self-styled director-general was being held in custody on a court order.
The committee had previously asked the IGP to produce Adeyemi at the hearing.
‘IT’S IMPOSSIBLE FOR A SINGLE CITIZEN TO MISLEAD MULTIPLE FG AGENCIES’
In the statement, Adeyemi’s legal team said their client was being framed as an “isolated mastermind impostor who single-handedly fabricated a federal government agency”.
The legal team said the administrative footprints of the PFIPC tell a different story from the narrative being presented to the public.
It added that the House of Representatives must probe the “undisputed institutional actions that created and validated” the PFIPC.
“The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF): Formally acknowledged documentation and facilitated official office allocations within the Federal Secretariat Complex.
“If these documents were crude forgeries, how did the central administrative engine of the Federal Government act upon them?
“The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN): Acted on official documentation to issue administrative budget codes, grant self-accounting status, post federal civil servants to the council, and officially open operational accounts.
“The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF): Formally approved the organisational structure and granted recruitment waivers that enabled the onboarding of 314 personnel.
“The Budget Office of the Federation and the National Assembly: Processed and vetted documentation, leading to the formal inclusion of a ₦1.302 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act, passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and signed into law by the President.
“Security agencies and anti-graft bodies: Heads of major security agencies attended programmes organised by the council. Furthermore, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) allocated a property to the council, requested a ₦300 million processing fee, and its leadership presented a plaque of recognition to the council’s leadership.”
The legal team said it was “an administrative impossibility for an unassisted individual” to mislead multiple federal government agencies.
It alleged that Adeyemi was “being made a scapegoat to cover up deep-seated institutional lapses, procedural breakdowns, and internal approvals within the government structure”.
“In light of the ongoing proceedings by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee chaired by Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, we formally request that the panel issue the necessary administrative clearance to allow our client, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, to appear in person and testify,” the statement reads.
“Any investigative outcome or final legislative report produced without affording our client a direct hearing would be fundamentally flawed, incomplete, and a breach of the constitutional right to a fair hearing (audi alteram partem).
“To reach a definitive conclusion, the committee must examine not only institutional witnesses but also the primary subject at the centre of this matter.”
