The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and its N1.3 billion budgetary allocation says Adeniyi Adeyemi will be interrogated, but not at a public hearing.
The committee had asked Tunji Disu, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), to produce Adeyemi for questioning.
However, Disu declined the committee’s request, saying Adeyemi is being held in custody on a court order.
The IGP said the police would not produce Adeyemi unless a court of competent jurisdiction issues a warrant directing the force to comply with the request.
Speaking at the public hearing on Tuesday, Yusuf Gagdi, chairman of the committee, said the panel was constrained by the court order.
Gagdi said the committee would instead interrogate Adeyemi at a time and place that would not be disclosed to the media to avoid undermining ongoing investigations by anti-graft agencies.
“For the benefit of the general public, we are not refusing to invite Prince Adeniyi here. As an arm of government, we respect the principle of federalism and separation of powers. We respect the powers of the judiciary and the executive, and we equally limit ourselves within our own powers,” Gagdi said.
“We will not announce to the general public when we will interact with Prince Adeniyi because the ICPC and EFCC are investigating this matter, and some aspects of this matter are before a court of law.
“To say that we will put the suspect under direct camera and interact with him the way we are interacting with everyone [heads of MDAs] here will definitely undermine the ongoing investigations by the EFCC and ICPC.
“In view of that, we are meeting him on an unannounced date and at an unannounced time. We will inform the police whenever we are going to meet him and, as directed by the court, it will be in the presence of his lawyers.”
On Sunday, Adeyemi, through his legal team, asked the committee to issue an administrative clearance to allow him to testify at the investigative hearing.
Background
At the centre of the PFIPC scandal is Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu.
Adeyemi, the man accused of operating the agency, claimed the Chief of Staff issued his appointment letter — an allegation Gbajabiamila denied.
Adeyemi also said he borrowed N400 million to secure the PFIPC director-general appointment and that his lenders have reported him to the EFCC.
Adeyemi was arrested on July 14 by operatives of the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in Osun State, days after Gbajabiamila sued him for N15 billion over alleged defamation.
Some heads of government agencies said Adeyemi submitted forged documents that led to budgetary allocations for the PFIPC.
On July 27, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, Accountant-General of the Federation, told the committee that Adeyemi intercepted a letter sent to the State House that could have revealed that the documents used by the PFIPC were forged.
On July 29, Esther Walson-Jack, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, said there was no due diligence in verifying the documents presented by the PFIPC before approval was granted for its staffing structure and recruitment waiver.
