KEY POINTS
- Adeyemi insists his lawyers and journalists must be present before he answers the House committee’s questions.
- The committee, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi, is probing how the PFIPC got office space and over N1.32 billion despite no legal existence.
- The CUPP rejected the ICPC report as a charade and demanded a broader, independent inquiry into possible enablers.
Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-appointed director-general of the disputed Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, has insisted that his lawyers and journalists must attend before he answers questions from a House of Representatives committee.
As of Sunday, the committee had not settled on a venue for the session, a source familiar with its proceedings said. Asked whether members had chosen a location, the source said simply, “No decision yet.”
Standoff over venue and access
The committee, which the lawmaker Yusuf Gagdi chairs, is probing how the PFIPC secured office space in the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja and won more than N1.32 billion in the 2026 budget despite allegedly lacking any legal existence. Adeyemi, who remains in police custody, will appear this week after several senior officials testified. Those witnesses included the Head of the Civil Service, Didi Walson-Jack, the Budget Office director-general, Tanimu Yakubu, and a senior Central Bank official, whose accounts raised questions about how Adeyemi gained recognition inside government.
However, the questioning has stalled over conditions. The committee tried to quiz him on Thursday, but he declined without his lawyers, so members rescheduled the session for Monday. According to a family source, Adeyemi said he would only speak if journalists and his lawyers attended. His lawyer, Ademola Oyedokun, had earlier rejected a closed-door interrogation at an undisclosed location, arguing that his client should answer in public because others in the case spoke publicly. Gagdi, meanwhile, said the committee chose a private setting to avoid interfering with police, EFCC and ICPC investigations.
Coalition rejects ICPC findings
Beyond the venue row, the Coalition of United Political Parties dismissed the ICPC report as a charade. Its spokesperson, Agu Bryan, said the commission cleared the Presidency while indicting Adeyemi, yet failed to explain how an allegedly non-existent agency operated inside government. Therefore, he argued that Adeyemi could not have acted without enablers across several institutions.
Furthermore, Bryan urged investigators to examine documents tied to the case, since officials reportedly found a forged signature attributed to Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila. He also questioned how the council entered the national budget, and he called for independent bodies, including the Nigerian Bar Association, to take over the inquiry. Consequently, the coalition pressed for a broader, transparent investigation that reaches beyond Adeyemi alone.