Nigeria investigates PFIPC scam involving budget allocation, alleged forgery, and foreign summit claims

The House of Representatives ad hoc committee probing the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) has raised concerns over documents that allegedly listed President Bola Tinubu and several senior government officials as members of the organisation’s governing board.Committee chairman Yusuf Gagdi disclosed this on Thursday during an investigative hearing. Lawmakers questioned Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed over the issuance of seven official vehicle number plates to the PFIPC despite irregularities in its application documents.Gagdi said the purported board included Tinubu; Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume; Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike; the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation; the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor; the Attorney-General of the Federation; and ministers of finance, aviation, agriculture and food security, interior, budget and national planning, marine and blue economy, police affairs, transport, works and power.He argued that the FRSC should have questioned a document naming the President and cabinet members as board members. He also faulted the acceptance of a purported mandate that lacked official government security features.“We are trying to expose the leakages so that agencies can close these gaps going forward. It is not to indict anybody,” Gagdi said. He added that the unusual board composition and the nature of the documents should have prompted independent verification with the Presidency and other institutions before approval.Mohammed defended the FRSC, saying it followed standard procedures. The agency received the PFIPC’s application on April 4, 2025, followed by a reminder on April 11, both signed by Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi. Officials checked the organisation’s website on a federal government domain, visited its office at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, and verified the vehicles’ chassis numbers.He said the website and office created the impression that the PFIPC was a legitimate federal agency. The FRSC was later surprised to learn it was not authorised and has begun retrieving the number plates while strengthening verification processes.The development follows a recommendation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to prosecute Adeniyi, who claimed Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila issued his appointment letter. Gbajabiamila denied the claim. The ICPC cleared the Presidency and the Central Bank of Nigeria of wrongdoing but identified institutional lapses in several ministries, departments and agencies.

The lawyer of Adeniyi Adeyemi, the director-general of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, has asked the House of Representatives’ committee probing the PFIPC scandal to allow Adeyemi to give his testimony in public. In a statement on Wednesday, Ademola Oyedokun, counsel to Adeyemi, said his client welcomed the decision of the House of Representatives to investigate the PFIPC scandal. Recently, some officials of the federal government appeared before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the PFIPC controversy and the N1.3 billion allocated to the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act. During the committee’s hearing last Wednesday, Tunji Disu, inspector-general of Police (IGP), declined to produce Adeyemi before the ad hoc committee, citing that the self-styled director-general is being held in custody on a court order.  The committee had previously asked the IGP to produce Adeyemi during the hearing. Reacting to the development, the lawyer asked the house of representatives to invoke its powers under section 89 of the 1999 constitution and summon Adeyemi to appear before the committee. The counsel said the bench warrant cited by the police authorities during the committee’s hearing was meant to arrest Adeyemi and not to detain in custody.  Oyedokun said there is no order detaining the PFIPC DG in police custody, adding that Adeyemi has not been brought before any court. “We have read that the Committee intends to interview our client at an undisclosed dateand place,” the statement reads. “We ask it, respectfully, to think again. Everyone else in this matter has been heard in public, and what has been said about our client was said in public. “He should be allowed to answer in the same place it was said.  “Section 89 of the Constitution gives the Committee power to summon any person and to compel his attendance. We ask it to use that power and to require the police to produce our client at a public sitting. “He will attend on any date it names, with his counsel, and answer every question put to him. “Our client does not ask the Committee to compromise any investigation. He will answerin public the questions this Committee was constituted to ask, and will reserve, upon legal advice, any question touching a matter before a court or an agency. “Those may be taken separately and in private. What cannot be right is that the whole of his account be taken behind a closed door because part of it is sensitive.” Adeyemi has been in police custody since he was arrested in Osun state on July 14. Prior to his arrest, a federal high court in Abuja ordered his arrest after he failed to honour the court’s summons.  Adeyemi was the mastermind of the fictitious PFIPC that operated like a government agency, receiving an allocation in the 2026 budget, occupying an office at the federal secretariat and also recruiting staff, without no legal standing or presidential declaration.

The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) says several senior government officials were listed as members of the council’s governing board.   Yusuf Gagdi, chairman of the committee, made the remarks during the panel’s investigative hearing on Thursday when lawmakers grilled Shehu Mohammed, chief executive officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), for approving seven vehicle number plates for the PFIPC despite apparent irregularities in the council’s application documents.   Gagdi said those listed as members of the PFIPC’s governing board included President Bola Tinubu; George Akume, secretary to the government of the federation; Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT); head of the civil service of the federation; governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); attorney-general of the federation; and ministers of finance, aviation, agriculture and food security, interior, budget and national planning, marine and blue economy, police affairs, transport, works, and power.   Gagdi said the FRSC failed to question a document that allegedly named Tinubu and cabinet members as board members.   He also noted that the purported mandate submitted by the organisation to the FRSC lacked official government security features, yet was accepted as part of the verification process.   “We are trying to expose the leakages so that agencies can close these gaps going forward. It is not to indict anybody,” Gagdi said.   Gagdi said the board’s unusual composition and the nature of the documents should have prompted the FRSC to seek independent verification from the presidency and other relevant government institutions before granting the PFIPC’s request.   FRSC DEFENDS VERIFICATION PROCESS  Mohammed told the committee that the FRSC complied with its standard operating procedures throughout the application process.   The Corps Marshal explained that the FRSC received the council’s application on April 4, 2025, followed by a reminder dated April 11, both signed by Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi.   He said the application was accompanied by documents purporting to establish the council, detailing its mandate, governing structure and the vehicles for which official number plates were requested.   Mohammed said officials also examined the organisation’s website, which bore a federal government domain, and visited the council’s office at the federal secretariat complex in Abuja.   The corps marshal said both the website and the physical office gave the impression that the council was a legitimate government agency.   Mohammed added that officials also verified the vehicles’ chassis numbers before approving the allocation of the number plates.   He said the FRSC was surprised when it later emerged that the PFIPC was not an authorised federal government agency.   Mohammed added that the FRSC has commenced the retrieval of all official number plates issued to the organisation and has strengthened its verification procedures to prevent a recurrence.   Meanwhile, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has recommended the prosecution of Adeyemi, the man accused of operating PFIPC.   Adeyemi claimed that Femi Gbajabiamila, Tinubu’s chief of staff, issued his appointment letter — an allegation the former Speaker of the House of Representatives denied.   The commission cleared the presidency and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of any wrongdoing but blamed institutional lapses in several ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), including office of the secretary to the government of the federation, the office of the head of the civil service of the federation, office of the accountant-general of the federation, budget office and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), among others.

 The State House has denied asking the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) to generate a budget code for the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).   Abdulkadri Idris, director of administration at the State House, spoke on Thursday when he appeared before the House of Representatives committee investigating the circumstances surrounding the inclusion of N1.3 billion in the 2026 budget for the PFIPC.   Idris, who represented Temitope Fashedemi, the permanent secretary at the State House, said the State House neither initiated nor received any correspondence regarding the creation of a budget code for the council.   BACKGROUND On July 27, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, accountant-general of the federation, told the committee that the OAGF received a request from the State House directing the creation of a budget code for the council.   Ogunjimi, however, claimed that the letter was discovered to be fake after the budget code was already created.   At the centre of the PFIPC scandal is Femi Gbajabiamila, chief of staff to President Bola Tinubu.     Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man accused of operating the agency, claimed the chief of staff issued his appointment letter — an allegation Gbajabiamila denied.   Adeyemi also said he borrowed N400 million to secure the PFIPC DG appointment and that his lenders have reported him to the EFCC.   Adeyemi was arrested on July 14 by operatives of the police intelligence response team (IRT) in Osun state, days after Gbajabiamila sued him for N15 billion over alleged defamation.   ‘WE DON’T REQUEST BUDGET CODES FOR AGENCIES’     Idris told the lawmakers that the State House had no prior knowledge or engagement with the council.   “We did not send any correspondence or request to the office of the accountant-general in respect of this council. We don’t even know anything about this council. We only heard about it when it started appearing in the news,” he said.   He also dismissed claims that the State House sought approval for the establishment of the PFIPC, insisting that such responsibility does not fall within the duties of his office.   Idris said he had earlier appeared before the police cybercrime centre over a letter allegedly signed by Akanbi Adewale, described as the director of administration and support services at the State House, who purportedly requested the OAGF to create a budget code for the PFIPC.     According to him, no officer bearing that name had ever served as director of administration in the State House.   Idris added that the State House has no department known as the directorate of administration and support services, describing the designation on the document as fictitious. Idris said he submitted to both the police and the committee a list of all directors of administration in the State House since 2003, noting that the purported signatory did not appear anywhere in the official records.   He told legislators that appointments of political officeholders are processed through the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), not the State House administration.   Yusuf Gagdi, chairman of the committee, said the panel would meet again with Esther Walson-Jack, head of the civil service of the federation; the accountant-general of the federation; and officials of the OSGF before concluding its report next week. 

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, has submitted an interim report to President Bola Tinubu on its investigation into the alleged fictitious Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, PFIPC. The ICPC Chairman, Musa Aliyu, made this known on Thursday following a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Aliyu, […] PFIPC: ICPC submits report to Tinubu, recommends Adeyemi’s prosecution

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has submitted an interim report to President Bola Tinubu after investigating the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC). Speaking to State House correspondents after presenting the report, ICPC Chairman Musa Adamu Aliyu said the commission found that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew was not appointed […] ICPC submits interim report on controversial PFIPC to Tinubu