The House of Representatives committee investigating the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) has said Adeniyi Adeyemi will be questioned, but not during a public hearing.
The committee had requested that the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, present Adeyemi before the panel, but the police chief declined, citing a court order under which the suspect is being held.
The police said Adeyemi could only be released for the committee’s engagement if a competent court issued a warrant authorising his appearance.
Speaking at Tuesday’s hearing, committee chairman Yusuf Gagdi said the panel would respect the court order and engage Adeyemi privately to avoid interfering with ongoing investigations by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“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 ICPC and EFCC are investigating this matter, and some aspect of this matter is before the 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.”
Adeyemi had earlier requested, through his lawyers, that the committee grant him administrative clearance to appear before the investigative panel.
The PFIPC controversy centres on allegations involving President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, who has denied claims by Adeyemi that he issued his appointment letter as head of the agency.
Adeyemi, accused of operating the council, also alleged that he borrowed N400 million to secure the appointment and was later reported to the EFCC by his lenders.
He was arrested on July 14 by operatives of the Police Intelligence Response Team in Osun State, shortly after Gbajabiamila filed a N15 billion defamation lawsuit against him.
Earlier, officials from government agencies told the committee that Adeyemi submitted allegedly forged documents that facilitated budget allocations for the PFIPC.
The Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, told the panel on July 27 that Adeyemi intercepted a letter sent to the State House that could have revealed the alleged document forgery.
Two days later, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Esther Walson-Jack, said due diligence was not conducted on documents submitted by the PFIPC before approval was granted for its staffing structure and recruitment waiver.
