By Sandra Kenneth
Fresh details have emerged in the House of Representatives’ investigation into the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), as top government officials admitted to significant administrative lapses that enabled an unbacked agency to gain official recognition.
Appearing before the House Ad-Hoc Committee probing the matter on Wednesday, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoS), Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, admitted that her office failed to conduct adequate due diligence before issuing key approvals and recruitment waivers to the purported agency.
Concurrently, representatives from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) attributed the agency’s ability to obtain an administrative code to an internal breach by an official who diverted restricted correspondence.
A Web of Fabricated Credentials
The legislative probe centers on allegations that Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi, presenting himself as the Director-General of the PFIPC, successfully obtained official recognition from several federal institutions using fake appointment letters, forged signatures, and fictitious legislative documents.
Committee Chairman Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau) revealed that police forensic analysis confirmed signatures on Adeyemi’s appointment letters—purportedly signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila—were completely fake. Furthermore, the document presented as an Act of the National Assembly lacked basic legislative features such as citation numbers, Gazette titles, or Supreme Court markings.
Gagdi added that the panel uncovered non-existent government offices cited on official paperwork, including a fictitious “Directorate of Administration and Support Services” within the State House.
Lapses at the Civil Service and OAGF
Addressing the panel, Walson-Jack conceded that her office acted on false documentation during the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence when promoters presented a fake Establishment Act alongside an invalid appointment letter.
“We now, having seen all the facts and observed all the documents, concede that we ought to have carried out more due diligence,” Walson-Jack stated, describing the fraudulent scheme as unprecedented in the history of the civil service. “We take full responsibility and will review our processes to make them fraud-proof.”
Meanwhile, Joshua Luka, Director of the Federal Project Financial Department at the OAGF, explained how an administrative code was released to the fake agency. Luka stated that while the response was intentionally addressed to the Permanent Secretary of the State House to verify authenticity, an OAGF staff member, Bello Abdullahi, handed the correspondence directly to Adeyemi instead.
Abdullahi admitted to passing the letter to Adeyemi during the hearing, which lawmakers argued prevented the fraud from being detected immediately.
Police Custody and Next Steps
The committee had previously ordered the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to produce Adeyemi at Wednesday’s hearing. Representing the IGP, Deputy Commissioner of Police Olufemi Akinola explained that Adeyemi could not be brought before the panel because he remains in custody under a court warrant, suggesting the committee seek a court reproduction order.
The panel accepted the explanation and confirmed it would take legal steps to secure his appearance.
The committee announced that it has concluded the primary fact-finding phase of its investigation. Preliminary findings are expected to be made public next week, followed by a final report to the House of Representatives upon resumption from recess.
