PFIPC Scandal: House Orders IGP to Produce Alleged DG, Uncovers 29 Suspected Forged Documents

• Committee compares signatures, identifies suspected forged documents
• Government agencies disown approvals, deny recognising PFIPC
• Accountant-General says response exposing alleged forgery was intercepted

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the activities of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) has directed the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to produce the council’s self-proclaimed Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi, before it by 12 noon tomorrow.

The directive was issued on Tuesday during the committee’s resumed investigative hearing at the National Assembly, Abuja, as lawmakers intensified their probe into the legal status, operations and funding of the council, which the Federal Government maintains was never lawfully established.

Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, disclosed that lawmakers had identified about 29 documents suspected to have been forged in connection with the activities of the purported agency, including letters, approvals and documents allegedly emanating from several government institutions.

Representing the IGP, Assistant Commissioner of Police Bashir Abdullahi told the committee that Adeyemi had already been arrested and arraigned before the Federal High Court on an eight-count charge following investigations triggered by petitions from the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.

He cautioned against disclosing details that could prejudice the ongoing criminal proceedings but assured lawmakers of the police’s full cooperation.

“The Nigerian Police Force investigated part of this case late last year and filed eight-count charges before a Federal High Court. The case is ongoing,” Abdullahi said.

He explained that police investigations began after a petition dated October 17, 2025, alleged that Adeyemi falsely presented himself as Director-General of both the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the PFIPC.

According to the police, subsequent investigations alleged that he used the purported office to obtain accommodation at the Phase III Federal Secretariat in Abuja, sought approval to recruit about 300 personnel, attempted to secure a N1.32 billion allocation for the council in the 2026 Appropriation Act, and planned to organise a World Investment Summit under the PFIPC platform.

A major moment during the hearing came when lawmakers compared signatures on documents purportedly issued by the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President with verified official correspondence obtained by the police.

When asked whether the signatures matched, Abdullahi responded: “They are not the same.”

Reacting to the revelation, Gagdi said the discrepancies reinforced the committee’s suspicion that several government documents had been forged.

“It is not only one letter that is suspected to have been forged. We are dealing with documents that include what is said to be a forged Act of the National Assembly in an attempt to establish a fake agency,” he said.

According to the committee chairman, the panel has so far identified about 29 suspected forged documents, including purported approvals from the State House, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Federal Ministry of Finance and other government institutions.

He added that officials from many of the affected agencies had appeared before the committee and denied issuing the documents attributed to them.

Since the commencement of the investigation, senior officials from the State House, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Ministries of Finance, Justice, Budget and Economic Planning, Foreign Affairs, and Information and National Orientation, as well as the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, the Code of Conduct Bureau and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, have testified before the panel.

Most of the institutions distanced themselves from the PFIPC, insisting they neither approved nor recognised its establishment. Several witnesses also disowned letters, approvals and endorsements bearing the names or insignia of their offices, maintaining that the documents neither originated from nor were issued by their institutions.

Gagdi said the committee had deliberately avoided compelling the police to disclose information that could compromise the ongoing criminal case but stressed that Adeyemi’s appearance before lawmakers had become necessary.

“This committee clearly needs the suspected Director-General to appear before it. People’s names are involved. People’s integrity is involved. Institutional names are involved. Institutional integrity is involved. It is no longer optional. We need him here to confirm some documents so that our investigation will not be undermined and we can submit our report on time,” he said.

The committee is investigating how the PFIPC allegedly operated despite lacking legal backing, including claims that it secured office accommodation at the Federal Secretariat, sought budgetary allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act and circulated documents purportedly issued by several government institutions.

Accountant-General alleges response exposing forgery was intercepted

The investigation took another turn when the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, alleged that an official response from his office, which could have exposed the alleged forgery early, was intercepted before reaching the State House.

Ogunjimi told lawmakers that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) received what appeared to be a legitimate request on State House letterhead in November 2024 seeking an administrative code to facilitate budgeting, accounting and financial reporting for the council.

He said the request was processed in line with established procedures, and the OAGF responded to the State House on November 29, 2024, copying the Budget Office of the Federation.

According to him, that response never reached its intended destination.

“The letter that was written to the treasury for us to give an administrative code was responded to. Unfortunately, as events unfolded, it was discovered that that letter did not get to the State House. It was hijacked, precisely by the same man who claimed to be the director-general.

“If our response had reached the State House, it would have become immediately apparent that the original request was never issued by the Presidency,” he said.

Ogunjimi alleged that the treasury only later discovered that the supporting documents submitted by the council, including a purported Act of the National Assembly and appointment letters, were forged.

“What the fake agency did was to submit a fake Act, a fake letter of appointment; everything submitted to the treasury leadership was fake,” he told the committee.

He explained that treasury officials acted in good faith because the correspondence appeared to originate from the State House.

The Accountant-General also disclosed that two treasury officials had unknowingly been working with the council after being deployed years earlier to the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President.

“We believed, based on our records, that the officers were still serving in the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser. It was only when this matter came to light that we discovered they had been absorbed by the purported agency,” he said.

Ogunjimi further revealed that the council applied to open a Treasury Single Account (TSA) and two domiciliary accounts in US dollars and British pounds with the Central Bank of Nigeria to facilitate foreign investment transactions and preparations for a proposed World Investment Summit.

While the domiciliary accounts were approved for inflows only, he said the request for a TSA was declined, adding that none of the accounts became operational because the council failed to meet the required conditions.