The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) and its N1.3 billion budgetary allocation has said Adeniyi Adeyemi will be interrogated, but not at a public hearing.
The committee had asked the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, to produce Adeyemi for questioning.
However, the IGP declined the request, saying Adeyemi is being held in custody under a court order.
The police also said Adeyemi would not be produced unless a court of competent jurisdiction issued a warrant directing the force to comply with the committee’s request.
Speaking during the public hearing on Tuesday, Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, said the panel was bound by the court order.
He said the committee would instead question Adeyemi at a time and place that would not be disclosed publicly to avoid affecting 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.”
On Sunday, Adeyemi, through his legal team, asked the committee to issue an administrative clearance to allow him to testify before the investigative hearing.
At the centre of the PFIPC controversy is the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Adeyemi, who is accused of operating the agency, claimed Gbajabiamila issued his appointment letter, an allegation the Chief of Staff has denied.
Adeyemi also said he borrowed N400 million to secure the PFIPC Director-General appointment and that his lenders later reported him to the EFCC.
He was arrested on July 14 by operatives of the Police Intelligence Response Team in Osun State, days after Gbajabiamila filed a N15 billion defamation suit against him.
Some heads of government agencies had earlier told the committee that Adeyemi submitted forged documents that led to budgetary allocations for the PFIPC.
On July 27, Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, told the committee that Adeyemi intercepted a letter sent to the State House that could have exposed the alleged forgery of documents used by the PFIPC.
On July 29, Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Esther Walson-Jack, said there was no due diligence in verifying documents presented by the PFIPC before approval was granted for its staffing structure and recruitment waiver.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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