PFIPC DG Adeyemi Denies Acting Alone, Says FG MDAs Recognised Council

The self-acclaimed Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, PFIPC, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, has denied allegations that he single-handedly created the controversial agency. 

He said several ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government processed, recognised and interacted with the council.

Adeyemi, who is currently in police custody, made the claims in a statement issued on Sunday by his legal team led by Festus Akhigbe. He also demanded to appear before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the council.

The legal team said Adeyemi should be allowed to testify before the committee chaired by Rep. Yusuf Gagdi, warning that any report produced without hearing from him would violate his constitutional right to 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,” the statement read.

Adeyemi’s lawyers rejected attempts to portray their client as “an isolated, mastermind impostor” who fabricated a government agency without institutional backing.

According to them, 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.

They further alleged that:

– The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Central Bank of Nigeria acted on official documentation to issue budget codes, grant self-accounting status, post federal civil servants to the council, and open operational accounts.

– The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation approved the establishment structure and granted recruitment waivers that enabled the onboarding of 314 personnel.

– 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.

“If the SGF, the Accountant-General, the CBN, 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 be held uniquely responsible?” the statement queried.

“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 team said Adeyemi was being made “a scapegoat to cover up deep-seated institutional lapses, procedural breakdowns and internal approvals within the government structure.”

It called for a broader investigation involving civil society, legal experts and independent observers to audit the paper trail across all MDAs connected with the council.

“Justice cannot be served by prosecuting the mouthpiece while ignoring the state machinery that built, budgeted, and bureaucratically birthed the entity,” the statement added.

MOUTHPIECE NGR reports that several heads of agency appeared before the House committee. 

Among them, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, admitted that her office failed to carry out adequate due diligence before approving recruitment requests linked to the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council.