The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has dismissed widespread reports that the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, was arrested in connection with the ongoing investigation into the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council scandal. In a statement released on Monday, the anti-graft agency clarified that Gbajabiamila was neither arrested nor detained but rather visited its headquarters in Abuja voluntarily to honour an invitation. The commission’s spokesperson, Demola Bakare, emphasised that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives simply showed up willingly to provide a statement and left shortly after, describing the encounter as a standard procedural inquiry rather than any indication of wrongdoing. The denial comes amid intense public interest in the PFIPC controversy, which has cast a shadow over the presidency in recent weeks. The fraudulent council, which the presidency has publicly disowned, came under scrutiny after a man named Adeniyi Adeyemi, who claimed to be the council’s Director-General, alleged that he paid a sum of four hundred million naira in bribes to an individual he believed to be Gbajabiamila in order to secure his appointment. Gbajabiamila has consistently denied the allegation and has maintained that he was the one who initially reported Adeyemi to the police, arguing that the entire affair was an elaborate attempt to defraud unsuspecting individuals. In response to the gravity of the claims, President Bola Tinubu had earlier on July 2 directed the ICPC to conduct a thorough and comprehensive investigation into the PFIPC matter and to submit a full report within thirty days. While the commission’s inquiry remains active and ongoing, Monday’s clarification from the ICPC serves to firmly counter the narrative that the president’s top aide had been taken into custody, reaffirming that his appearance was entirely a matter of cooperation with law enforcement.
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