Detained Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), Adeniyi Adeyemi, has alleged that he is being held unlawfully by the Nigeria Police Force, insisting that he should be questioned by the House of Representatives in a public hearing rather than behind closed doors.
Adeyemi made the demand through a statement issued by his lawyer, Prince Ademola Oyedokun, who said his client welcomed the ongoing House investigation into the activities of the PFIPC.
According to the lawyer, the National Assembly derives its authority from the Nigerian people and is constitutionally empowered to investigate the issues surrounding the council.
Oyedokun maintained that Adeyemi had never declined invitations to appear before the House Committee, adding that despite being in police custody, he has neither been brought before the committee nor produced before any court.
He disputed the police’s claim before the committee that his client’s detention was backed by a court order, arguing that the bench warrant obtained by the police only authorised Adeyemi’s arrest and not his continued detention.
“A bench warrant is an order to arrest a man and bring him before the court. It is not an order to detain him.
“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 said.
The lawyer disclosed that an application seeking Adeyemi’s production in court and subsequent release has already been filed before the appropriate court.
He also urged the House Committee to reconsider plans to question his client at an undisclosed venue and date.
According to Oyedokun, because the allegations against Adeyemi were made publicly, fairness demands that his defence should also be presented in an open hearing accessible to the public.
