Nigeria: PFIPC Probe - Why We Didn't Invite, Interrogate Gbajabiamila - Reps Panel Chair

What the report says

The chairman of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee probing the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) said the panel did not invite or question President Bola Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, because the investigation was aimed first at determining how the alleged agency was created and whether it had any legal basis. Yusuf Gagdi made the comments in an interview on Arise Television on Wednesday after the committee released preliminary findings in Abuja, according to Premium Times as republished by AllAfrica.

Gagdi said the House mandate covered questions about the PFIPC’s origin, the authenticity of documents used to establish it, and how it gained access to government facilities and public funds. He said Gbajabiamila appeared in some documents reviewed by the committee, but was not the starting point of the inquiry. The committee had earlier cleared Gbajabiamila in its preliminary presentation, while allegations connected to the matter remain disputed. Gbajabiamila has denied wrongdoing and filed a defamation suit, according to the report.

The committee chair also defended the panel’s process, saying it had advertised for memoranda and did not deliberately hold the investigation in secret. He said only one meeting was private, involving a suspect who was in police custody and could not be produced because of a court order. Gagdi argued that the House could still examine administrative and budgetary issues around the alleged agency even if related criminal allegations were already before the courts.

He said the preliminary report was released because the public wanted updates, and added that a fuller report would be submitted later to the House.