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The detained self-proclaimed Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, has denied acting alone in the creation of the disputed agency, alleging that several Federal Government ministries, departments and agencies processed and recognised its operations.
Adeyemi, who is currently in police custody, made the claims in a statement issued on Sunday through his legal team led by Festus Akhigbe. He also demanded an opportunity to appear before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the council.
His lawyers argued that denying him the chance to testify before the panel chaired by Rep. Yusuf Gagdi would amount to a violation of his constitutional right to a fair hearing and could undermine the credibility of the committee's findings.
The defence team rejected suggestions that Adeyemi single-handedly created the agency, alleging that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Accountant-General, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and other government institutions processed official documents relating to the council.
The lawyers further claimed that the council received administrative recognition from several agencies, including approvals for budget codes, self-accounting status, staff postings and recruitment waivers, while alleging that some security agencies and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission also interacted with the organisation in the course of its operations.
They maintained that Adeyemi was being unfairly portrayed as a scapegoat for wider institutional failures and called for an expanded independent investigation to examine the roles played by all relevant government agencies. The development comes as the House of Representatives committee continues its probe, with the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, admitting that her office did not conduct adequate due diligence before approving recruitment requests linked to the controversial council.
