Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, has said the Presidency lacks the constitutional authority to clear anyone in the controversy surrounding Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi and the alleged operation of a fictitious government agency.
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Falana called for an independent investigation into both the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, and Adeyemi, who is facing criminal charges before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
Adeyemi has been charged with eight counts of conspiracy, forgery and impersonation over allegations that he operated a non-existent government agency known as the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, forged a presidential appointment letter purportedly signed by Gbajabiamila, and maintained several bank accounts in the names of fictitious government bodies.
The Presidency had, in a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, denied the existence of the agency and accused Adeyemi of engaging in an elaborate forgery and impersonation scheme.
It also warned politicians and members of the public against using Adeyemi’s allegations to attack the Chief of Staff, urging them to await the outcome of the criminal trial.
However, Falana, speaking in an interview, insisted that the Presidency could not exonerate any of the parties because allegations of official corruption had been raised.
“The Presidency is not in a position to clear anybody. It is the duty of the police and anti-graft agencies to investigate cases of official corruption,” Falana said.
According to him, the proper step is for the matter to be referred to anti-corruption agencies for independent investigation.
“The Presidency can only refer Femi Gbajabiamila, as well as the other individual, to the ICPC because allegations of fraud and corruption have been raised,” he added.
Falana also questioned how a purportedly unknown agency could allegedly have a budgetary provision and accounts linked to official government financial systems.
“The government will have to explain to Nigerians how a whopping sum of ₦24bn was budgeted for an unknown agency, as well as how that agency had accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria,” he said.
He said the government must provide clear answers on how a body described by the Presidency as fictitious allegedly secured a Central Bank of Nigeria account and appeared in budgetary records.
Adeyemi had accused Gbajabiamila of making contradictory statements about the existence of the disputed agency and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
He also alleged that the Chief of Staff received ₦400 million through a proxy and demanded an additional ₦200 million to secure his appointment.
Adeyemi further claimed that the dispute arose after he rejected an alleged demand for 48 per cent of the agency’s ₦27.4 billion take-off grant.
He called on President Bola Tinubu to set up an independent investigative panel to examine the circumstances surrounding the disputed agency, alleged budgetary provisions, official documents, institutional records, and the death of one Dolapo Babatunde Tanimola, whom he had linked to the alleged forged appointment letter.
The Presidency, however, maintained that the agency never existed under the Tinubu administration and said Adeyemi had been charged after investigations by the police.
According to the Presidency, Gbajabiamila had earlier petitioned security agencies after discovering alleged forged appointment letters and official documents purportedly issued from his office.
Police investigators reportedly found that Adeyemi operated 34 bank accounts, including nine opened in the names of fictitious agencies, and allegedly attempted to infiltrate official financial systems.
The Presidency said the police recommended that the accounts be frozen pending prosecution.
Falana’s intervention has now added a fresh legal dimension to the controversy, with the senior advocate insisting that only the police and anti-graft agencies, not the Presidency, can investigate and determine the issues arising from the allegations.
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