Breaking: More Scandal as Fake Agency DG Fingers More Powerful Offices Amid Tight Investigation
- Adeniyi Adeyemi, in police custody, said multiple federal agencies processed and interacted with the disputed Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council
- His legal team demanded he be allowed to testify before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee chaired by Yusuf Gagdi
- The defence argued Adeyemi is being made a scapegoat for institutional failures spanning several government ministries and agencies
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The self-described Director-General of the disputed Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, has pushed back against allegations that he fabricated the agency on his own, claiming that some of the most powerful offices in the Federal Government formally engaged with the council.
Adeyemi, who is currently in police detention, issued the claims through his legal defence team on Sunday, August 2, in a statement signed by Festus Akhigbe.
Source: Facebook
The defence team named the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Budget Office, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and heads of primary security agencies as institutions that verified, processed, funded, or officially interacted with the council over time, Punch reported.
According to the statement, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service formally approved the council's establishment structure and "granted recruitment waivers that enabled the onboarding of 314 personnel."
The CBN and Accountant-General's office are alleged to have issued budget codes, granted self-accounting status, posted civil servants to the council, and opened operational accounts on its behalf, Vanguard reported.
The EFCC, the statement added, allocated a property to the council, requested a processing fee, and presented a plaque of recognition to its leadership.
Adeyemi's team demands right to testify
The lawyers formally requested that the House of Representatives ad hoc committee, chaired by Yusuf Gagdi, grant administrative clearance for Adeyemi to appear in person and give evidence.
"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.
The defence rejected what it called attempts to paint Adeyemi as "an isolated, mastermind impostor," arguing instead that "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 statement further said Adeyemi was being used "as a scapegoat to cover up deep-seated institutional lapses, procedural breakdowns and internal approvals within the government structure," and called for a broader investigation involving civil society groups, legal experts, and independent observers to audit the full paper trail across all connected ministries, departments, and agencies.
The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Didi Walson-Jack, had earlier appeared before the same House committee and admitted that her office did not carry out adequate due diligence before approving recruitment requests linked to the council, a concession that lends some weight to the defence's broader argument about systemic institutional failure.
Atiku ask Tinubu to resign over fake agency scandal
Previously, Legit.ng reported that the 2027 African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said scandals are no longer viewed as isolated incidents but as recurring features of governance in President Bola Tinubu's administration.
The Former Vice President said Tinubu’s government has dragged Nigeria to a dangerous point. Atiku said the controversy surrounding the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) is the latest chapter in an ever-expanding book of scandals that have come to define the Tinubu administration.
Source: Legit.ng
