CITIZENS COMPASS— The Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), Adeniyi Adeyemi, will be interrogated privately rather than publicly.
The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the
matter disclosed this yesterday, during its public hearing.
Adeyemi is being interrogated following the N1.3 billion budgetary allocation which has been generating mixed reactions.
Last week, the adhoc committee had asked the Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, to produce Adeyemi for questioning but the IGP said he was unable to produce Adeyemi because he was already in custody following a court order.
Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, said the panel was bound by the court order.
He said the committee would instead question Adeyemi at a time and place that would not be disclosed publicly to avoid affecting ongoing investigations by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“For the benefit of the general public, we are not refusing to invite Prince Adeniyi here. As an arm of government, we respect the principle of federalism and separation of powers. We respect the powers of the judiciary and the executive, and we equally limit ourselves within our own powers,” Gagdi said.
“We will not announce to the general public when we will interact with Prince Adeniyi because ICPC and EFCC are investigating this matter, and some aspect of this matter is before the court of law.
“In view of that, we are meeting him on an unannounced date and at an unannounced time. We will inform the police whenever we are going to meet him and, as directed by the court, it will be in the presence of his lawyers.”
On Sunday, Adeyemi, through his legal team, asked the committee to issue an administrative clearance to allow him to testify before the investigative hearing.
Adeyemi had alleged that the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila isued his appointment letter, an allegation the Chief of Staff has denied.
Adeyemi also said he borrowed N400 million to secure the PFIPC Director-General appointment and that his lenders later reported him to the EFCC.
