Adeniyi Adeyemi, the detained director-general of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), has appealed to the House of Representatives to permit him to personally testify before the ad hoc committee investigating the controversy surrounding the council.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a statement issued on Sunday through his legal team led by Festus Akhigbe, Adeyemi argued that any findings reached without hearing his side of the story would be incomplete and unfair.
The appeal comes after officials of the federal government appeared before the House committee last week as part of its inquiry into the PFIPC and the N1.3 billion appropriated to the council in the 2026 budget.
At the committee’s sitting on Wednesday, Inspector-General of Police Tunji Disu declined to present Adeyemi before lawmakers, explaining that he remains in custody under a valid court order despite an earlier request from the panel for his appearance.
Rejecting claims that Adeyemi independently created the council, his legal team maintained that the available records point to the involvement of several government institutions in recognising and processing the PFIPC.
According to the lawyers, the committee should focus on examining what they described as the official administrative actions that gave legitimacy to the council’s operations.
“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,” the statement reads.
“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) & Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN): 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 (OHCSF): Formally approved the establishment structure and granted recruitment waivers that enabled the onboarding of three hundred and fourteen (314) personnel.
“The Budget Office of the Federation & National Assembly: Processed and vetted documentation leading to the formal insertion of a N1.302 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act, passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and signed into law by the President.
“Security Agencies & Anti-Graft Bodies: Heads of major security agencies attended programs organized by the council. Furthermore, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) allocated a property to the council, requested a N300 million processing consideration, and its leadership presented a plaque of recognition to the council’s leadership.”
The legal team argued that it would have been impossible for one individual to deceive several arms and agencies of government without institutional failures or internal approvals.
They further alleged that Adeyemi is being unfairly blamed for broader systemic shortcomings within the public service.
“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 center of this controversy.”
