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PFIPC: Allow me testify, I’m being made scapegoat — Adeyemi
🇳🇬 Nigeria /Crime & Justice

PFIPC: Allow me testify, I’m being made scapegoat — Adeyemi

From Vanguard · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • The Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), Adeniyi Matthew Adeyemi, seeks permission to testify before a House of Representatives panel.
  • Adeyemi, currently in custody, claims he is being made a scapegoat and that his testimony is crucial for a fair investigation into the PFIPC scandal.
  • His legal team highlighted that multiple federal agencies, including the SGF, Accountant-General, CBN, and Budget Office, acted on official documentation related to the PFIPC, questioning how forged documents could have been processed.

Adeniyi Matthew Adeyemi, the Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), is seeking administrative clearance to testify before a House of Representatives panel investigating the controversial agency. Adeyemi, currently in police custody, argues that any legislative report on the PFIPC scandal will be "fundamentally flawed" without his testimony.

any legislative report on the PFIPC scandal without his testimony was “fundamentally flawed.”

— Adeniyi Adeyemi's legal teamStating the importance of Adeyemi's testimony for the investigation.

Adeyemi's legal team stated that their client is being framed as an "isolated, mastermind impostor who single-handedly fabricated a Federal Government agency." They contend that the "administrative footprints" of the PFIPC suggest a different narrative than what is being publicly portrayed. The team emphasized the need for the House to probe the "undisputed institutional actions that created and validated" the PFIPC.

The House of Representatives must probe the “undisputed institutional actions that created and validated” the PFIPC.

— Adeniyi Adeyemi's legal teamCalling for a thorough investigation into the PFIPC's establishment.

According to Adeyemi's lawyers, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) formally acknowledged PFIPC documentation and allocated office space. Furthermore, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) acted on official documents to issue budget codes, grant self-accounting status, assign federal civil service staff, and open operational accounts. The Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) also formally approved the establishment structure and granted recruitment waivers for 314 personnel.

If these documents were crude forgeries, how did the central administrative engine of the Federal Government act upon them?

— Adeniyi Adeyemi's legal teamQuestioning the processing of alleged forged documents by federal agencies.

Adeyemi's legal team further pointed to the Budget Office of the Federation and the National Assembly, which processed and vetted documentation leading to a N1.302 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act. They also noted the involvement of security agencies and anti-graft bodies, with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) allocating property to the council and its leadership presenting a plaque of recognition. The legal team asserted that it is an "administrative impossibility for an unassisted individual" to mislead so many federal agencies, alleging their client is being made a scapegoat.

It was an “administrative impossibility for an unassisted individual” to mislead multiple agencies of the Federal Government.

— Adeniyi Adeyemi's legal teamArguing against the narrative of Adeyemi acting alone.
DistantNews Editorial

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

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