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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Crime & Justice

Fake agency probe: Reps to grill controversial DG at undisclosed location

From The Punch · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • A House of Representatives committee will interrogate a purported Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council at an undisclosed location while he is in police custody.
  • The committee is investigating allegations of impersonation, forgery, financial impropriety, and unlawful use of government facilities by the council.
  • The probe follows testimony from a businessman who allegedly paid N400 million to the purported DG for a contract he never received.

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council is set to question its purported Director-General, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi. The interrogation will occur at an undisclosed location while Adeyemi remains in police custody, a measure deemed necessary to prevent jeopardizing ongoing investigations by security and anti-graft agencies.

The move is necessary to avoid jeopardising ongoing investigations by security and anti-graft agencies.

— House of Representatives Ad-hoc CommitteeExplaining the decision to interrogate the purported DG at an undisclosed location while in police custody.

The committee's mandate is to scrutinize the circumstances surrounding the alleged establishment and operations of the PFIPC. This includes examining claims of impersonation, forgery, financial impropriety, and the unlawful use of government facilities and insignia. Lawmakers are also seeking to identify all individuals involved, ascertain the source of funding, and determine if public institutions or officials provided any assistance to the purported council.

Recent testimony from Gbenga Collins, Managing Director of Divine Dopacy Nigeria Limited, has intensified the probe. Collins told lawmakers he paid N400 million to Adeyemi after being promised a contract to renovate and furnish the agency's official residence. Collins stated he believed the PFIPC was legitimate due to Adeyemi's operations from a Federal Secretariat office, his use of security personnel and official vehicles with government plates, and the appearance of his office.

When I arrived at the airport, he sent an official car to come and pick me from the airport to his office at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja.

— Gbenga CollinsDescribing his initial interactions with Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, highlighting the use of official resources.

The committee is also summoning the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps regarding official government number plates allegedly used by the purported council. The investigation is expected to conclude its hearings this week, with a report to be submitted to the House of Representatives.

I saw police officers with him. That was my first time of coming to Abuja because I’m not familiar with Abuja very w

— Gbenga CollinsExplaining his belief in the legitimacy of the PFIPC due to the presence of security personnel.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by The Punch. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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