Detained PFIPC DG Challenges Police Custody, Seeks Open House Hearing

The detained Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), Adeniyi Adeyemi, has challenged the legality of his continued detention by the police and called on the House of Representatives to question him at a public hearing instead of a closed-door session.

In a statement released in Abuja on Tuesday, his lawyer, Prince Ademola Oyedokun of Ademolaw Toye Law Firm, said Adeyemi welcomed the ongoing House investigation into the PFIPC and was ready to cooperate fully.

The lawyer maintained that his client had never refused to appear before the House committee but remained in police custody without being taken before the committee or the Federal High Court.

According to Oyedokun, the police relied on a bench warrant to justify Adeyemi’s detention, even though the warrant only authorised his arrest and subsequent appearance before a court.

“A bench warrant is an order to arrest a man and bring him before the court. It is not an order to detain him.”

He further stated:

“The warrant directed the police to arrest our client and to produce him before the Federal High Court. They arrested him. They have not produced him. No order committing him to custody has ever been made, served on him or shown to him, and none could have been made, because he has never been brought before any court.”

Oyedokun disclosed that legal proceedings had already been initiated to secure his client’s production before the court and his release.

He also appealed to the House Committee to exercise its constitutional powers under Section 89 of the Constitution by directing the police to produce Adeyemi for questioning during a public hearing.

The lawyer said his client was willing to attend any session scheduled by the committee with his legal counsel and answer every relevant question.

While stressing that Adeyemi would not interfere with ongoing court proceedings or investigations, Oyedokun argued that there was no justification for hearing his client’s entire account in private.

“What cannot be right is that the whole of his account be taken behind a closed door because part of it is sensitive,” the statement said.

He added that the House inquiry extends beyond the allegations before the courts and includes questions about the establishment of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council and the involvement of government officials.

“We ask only that they remember, meanwhile, that no court has yet heard him say a single word,” the statement concluded.

Africans Angle News