The self-acclaimed Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, has denied allegations that he single-handedly created the disputed agency, alleging that several ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the Federal Government processed, recognised or interacted with the council.
Mr Adeyemi, who is currently in police custody, made the claims in a statement issued on Sunday through his legal defence team, led by Festus Akhigbe, while demanding an opportunity to appear before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the council.
The legal team argued that their client should be allowed to testify before the committee chaired by Mr Yusuf Gagdi, warning that any report produced without hearing from him would violate his constitutional right to a fair hearing.
“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.
“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),” the statement read.
Lawyers reject ‘mastermind’ allegation
Mr Adeyemi’s lawyers rejected what they described as attempts to portray him as “an isolated, mastermind impostor” who fabricated a government agency without institutional backing.
According to the statement, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation acknowledged documents relating to the council and facilitated office allocation within the Federal Secretariat.
“We, the legal defence team of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, issue this public statement to set the record straight following recent developments, our client’s current police detention, and the ongoing legislative hearings.
“The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and Central Bank of Nigeria acted on official documentation to issue administrative budget codes, grant self-accounting status, post federal civil service staff to the council, and officially open operational accounts.
“The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation formally approved the establishment structure and granted recruitment waivers that enabled the onboarding of 314 personnel.”
More agencies allegedly involved
The legal team further alleged that heads of security agencies attended programmes organised by the council, while the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission allocated a property to it, requested a processing fee and presented a plaque of recognition to its leadership.
The statement added, “If the SGF, the Accountant-General, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Head of Service, the Budget Office, the EFCC, the National Assembly, and the heads of Nigeria’s primary security architecture all verified, processed, funded, and officially interacted with this agency over an extended period, how can a single citizen, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, be held uniquely responsible for failing to detect what the entire apparatus of the State validated?
“It is an administrative impossibility for an unassisted individual to mislead every arm of the Federal Government simultaneously without official, high-level institutional sanction.”
The defence maintained that Mr Adeyemi was being made “a scapegoat” to cover up what it described as institutional lapses, procedural failures and internal approvals within government.
Calls for wider probe
The legal team called for a broader investigation involving civil society organisations, legal experts and independent observers to examine what it described as the complete paper trail across all ministries, departments and agencies linked to the council.
“While we note the ongoing proceedings by the House of Representatives ad hoc committee and investigating bodies, justice cannot be served by prosecuting the mouthpiece while ignoring the state machinery that built, budgeted, and bureaucratically birthed the entity.
“We reiterate our call for a truly comprehensive, multi-stakeholder panel that includes civil society, legal experts, and independent observers to audit the complete paper trail across all involved ministries, departments, and agencies,” the statement added.
The House of Representatives committee has already heard from several heads of government agencies, including the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, who admitted that her office failed to carry out adequate due diligence before approving recruitment requests linked to the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council.
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