The House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee investigating the purported Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, PFIPC, said yesterday it would interrogate the Director-General of the agency, Aderemi Matthew Adeyemi, in undisclosed location to respect the constitutional principles of separation of powers.
This is as the Managing Director of a private firm, Divine Dopacy Nigeria Limited, Mr. Gbenga Collins, yesterday narrated before the committee how he allegedly paid N400 million to the purported PFIPC DG after being promised a contract to renovate and furnish what was presented to him as the official residence of the agency’s chief executive.
Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, who disclosed this at the panel’s sitting, said the National Assembly would respect the constitutional principle of separation of powers and would not seek to override a subsisting judicial order.
“As an arm of government, we respect the principle of federalism and separation of powers. We respect the powers of the judiciary, the executive and we equally limit ourselves within our own powers.
“We do not have the power as the National Assembly to vacate an existing court order and say that somebody who is in the custody of the Nigerian Police should leave the police to appear before the National Assembly,” he said.
The chairman, however, disclosed that the committee would interact with Adeyemi at an undisclosed date and location in a manner designed not to compromise investigations being conducted by security and anti-graft agencies.
“We will not announce to the general public when we will interact with Prince Adeniyi. We will not, because the ICPC are investigating this matter. EFCC are investigating this matter. Part of this matter is before the court of law and many other agencies.
“To say that we will put the suspect under direct camera and interact with him the way we are interacting with everyone here will definitely undermine the ongoing investigation by the EFCC and ICPC.
“In view of that, we are meeting him on an unannounced date and at an unannounced time. We will meet him with a camera that will exonerate members of the committee on our interaction with him.
“Just as you came here with your lawyer, 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,” Gagdi said.
He maintained that the committee’s priority was to obtain necessary clarifications from Adeyemi rather than insist on his physical appearance at the public hearing.
“Whether he appears before this committee or this committee appears before him, the most important thing is to have an interaction with him to get some things clarified. And we are going to do just that,” he said.
Gagdi added that the committee would continue its public hearing tomorrow and conclude outstanding engagements within the week.
Meanwhile, appearing before the committee yesterday, Gbenga Collins said his company was established in October 2017 and operates in the agribusiness sector, sourcing agricultural produce from farmers for export.
He told lawmakers that Adeyemi presented himself as the Director-General of both the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, PEAC, and the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
Collins said the visit was his first time in Abuja and that the presence of security personnel, government vehicles and what appeared to be a functioning government office gave him no reason to doubt Adeyemi’s claims.
“I saw police officers with him. That was my first time of coming to Abuja because I’m not familiar with Abuja very well. He sent his official car to pick me from the airport. It had a federal government registration number attached to the Lexus SUV,” he said.
According to Collins, Adeyemi subsequently informed him that he intended to renovate and furnish the official residence purportedly allocated to him as Director-General and offered his company the contract.
Collins said Adeyemi informed him that he would have to pay N400 million to demonstrate his company’s financial capacity and facilitate the mobilisation of the contract.
“He gave me the contract award letter, the scope of work and the agreement with my company to execute the refurbishment project.
“I had to pay N400 million for the facilitation of that project to show my strength that I would be able to handle the project. At the same time, he said it would fast-track the mobilisation for the contract,” he told the committee.
