Reps invite Bianca Ojukwu, Ribadu over PFIPC investigation

Reps invite Bianca Ojukwu, Ribadu over PFIPC investigation

The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the circumstances surrounding the purported Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) on Tuesday invited the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, for clarifications on the existence of the fake agency.

Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Rep. Yusuf Gagdi, handed down the invitations during an investigative session on the matter at the National Assembly, Abuja.

Gagdi said the PFIPC’s diplomatic engagement with some embassies was an embarrassment to Nigeria.

He expressed dismay over the inability of the Foreign Affairs Ministry to effectively detect the existence of the fake agency.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs is hereby invited to appear on Thursday, July 23.

“The National Security Adviser is also invited to appear before this committee to explain why it did not go further in inquiries after receiving letter from the Foreign Affairs Ministry labelling the agency fake,” he said.

Responding, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Dunoma Ahmed, acknowledged receipt of letters from the fake agency for engagement with diplomats.

Ahmed explained that upon receipt of the letters, the ministry carried out inquiries into their originality and discovered that the agency was fake.

According to him, the ministry wrote to the Office of the NSA informing them that the agency was fake.

The self-styled Director General of PFIPC, Adeyemi Matthew, has been arrested.

His arrest followed a warrant issued by the Federal High Court, Abuja, after he failed to appear at a hearing to face charges of forgery and impersonation brought against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).