Reps uncover fresh discrepancies in PFIPC probe as State House disowns agency, FRSC explains official number plates

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) on Thursday uncovered fresh discrepancies in documents used to establish the purported agency, as the State House denied authorising its creation or requesting a budget code for it from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

The committee also questioned the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) over its decision to issue seven official Federal Government vehicle number plates to the council, despite later discovering that the agency was not lawfully established.

The revelations emerged during the committee’s investigative hearing at the National Assembly complex in Abuja, where officials from the State House and the FRSC appeared before lawmakers to explain their roles in the activities of the council, which allegedly operated without legal backing but was integrated into aspects of the Federal Government’s administrative and budgetary processes, including the 2026 Appropriation Act.

Appearing before the committee, Abdulkadri Idris, Director of Administration, State House, who represented the Permanent Secretary, categorically denied that the Presidency played any role in the establishment of the PFIPC or requested the Accountant-General to generate a budget code for it.

“I want to state that we did not send any correspondence nor any request to the Office of the Accountant-General in respect of this council.

“We don’t even know anything about this council. We never heard about this council until we started seeing it in the media,” Idris told lawmakers.

He explained that the State House has no statutory responsibility for establishing government agencies and therefore could not have issued any communication creating the council.

Idris further dismissed documents presented before the committee as forged, insisting that one of the letters purportedly originating from the Presidency contained glaring irregularities.

“I presented the list of Directors of Administration in the State House from 2003 to date, and there was no name resembling Akande Adewale.

“In addition, there is no department known as Directorate of Administration and Support Services in the State House.

“We have only the Department of Administration. Akande Adewale has never, ever been Director of Administration in the State House,” he said.

To support its position, the State House submitted official records previously forwarded to the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre, including authentic letterheads and the historical list of Directors of Administration.

Reacting to the testimony, Yusuf Gagdi, Chairman of the House Ad-hoc Committee, said the evidence exposed major contradictions between documents obtained from the Accountant-General’s Office and those produced by the State House.

“The State House has denied that it ever wrote any letter to the Accountant-General requesting budget codes. Secondly, there is no Directorate of Administration and Support Services as contained in those documents.

“The Accountant-General responded to an office that the State House says does not exist, while the name of the signatory, Akande Adewale, is absent from all official records submitted to this committee,” Gagdi said.

He described the discrepancies as a significant breakthrough in the committee’s efforts to establish how official government processes were allegedly manipulated to confer legitimacy on the PFIPC.

The State House also denied issuing any appointment letter to the purported Director-General of the council, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi.

According to Idris, appointments of heads of federal agencies are political appointments processed through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

“If the President approves any appointment, the conveyance is done by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” he said.

FRSC defends allocation of official number plates

The Federal Road Safety Corps also defended its decision to allocate seven Official Federal Government vehicle number plates to the PFIPC, insisting that it acted in line with its established administrative procedures after carrying out extensive verification.

In a memorandum dated August 6, 2026 and signed by Shehu Mohammed, Corps Marshal, the FRSC explained that the process began with a letter dated April 4, 2025 from the Office of the Director-General, Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, signed by Adeniyi Adeyemi, requesting official government number plates.

A reminder dated April 11, 2025 was later submitted alongside documents purporting to establish the council, define its mandate and identify the vehicles requiring registration.

Mohammed disclosed that Adeyemi personally submitted the request at the FRSC headquarters.

According to him, because the PFIPC claimed to be a newly established federal agency, the Corps carried out additional verification by examining the accompanying documents, visiting the government website provided by the applicant,which bore a Federal Government domain name and physically inspecting the agency’s office at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Phase III, Central Business District, Abuja.

“As part of the verification process, the requests were personally delivered to the FRSC Headquarters by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who presented himself as the Director-General of the Agency.

“In addition, the Corps visited the official website indicated in the correspondence.

“The website bore a Federal Government domain and contained information consistent with that of a legitimate Federal Government institution, including the names of prominent public office holders as members of its Governing Board,” the Corps Marshal stated.

He added that officials also visited the office address contained in the correspondence.

“Officials of the Corps physically visited the address and found the office in operation at the stated location, further reinforcing the impression that the Agency was genuinely established.”

Mohammed said that after completing the verification exercises, the Corps approved the allocation of seven official number plates.

“Having completed the foregoing verification processes and being satisfied with the information presented, the Corps approved and allocated seven Official Federal Government Vehicle Number Plates to the Agency,” he stated.

The vehicles included a 2024 bulletproof Lexus LX, two Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs and four Toyota Hilux vehicles, which were assigned registration numbers PFIPC 01 to PFIPC 07 after verification of their chassis numbers.

“The chassis numbers of all the vehicles were verified and confirmed to correspond with the respective vehicles presented for registration before the number plates were issued,” Mohammed added.

The Corps Marshal, however, said the FRSC was later shocked to discover that the council was not an approved Federal Government agency.

“The allocation of these Official Federal Government Vehicle Number Plates was carried out strictly in accordance with the established procedures of the Corps and after all reasonable verification and due diligence had been undertaken.

“It therefore came as a profound shock to the Corps when it subsequently emerged that the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council was not an approved Federal Government Agency and that the representations made by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi were false,” he said.

Mohammed disclosed that the Corps had begun administrative processes to retrieve all seven official number plates issued to the council and had strengthened its internal verification procedures to prevent a recurrence.

“The FRSC has equally commenced immediate administrative processes to retrieve all the Official Federal Government Vehicle Number Plates allocated to the purported Agency and has strengthened its internal verification mechanisms to prevent any recurrence of such deception,” he added.

Despite the FRSC’s explanation, Gagdi questioned the adequacy of the Corps’ verification process after observing that the documents relied upon lacked standard government security features and unusually listed President Bola Tinubu, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and several cabinet ministers as members of the council.

“Does this look normal to you?” Gagdi asked.

Responding, the Corps Marshal admitted, “No, not at all.”

He, however, maintained that the Corps acted based on the information available at the time, including the operational office, official-looking documents, government-domain website and verified vehicle details.

The committee subsequently directed the FRSC to provide the current status and location of all vehicles registered under the PFIPC.

Gagdi also announced that the panel would conclude its investigation next Wednesday and directed the committee’s clerk to invite all relevant agencies for the final phase of the inquiry.

The House constituted the ad hoc committee following allegations that the PFIPC operated as a Federal Government entity without legal backing, obtained official documents and approvals and was integrated into government administrative and budgetary processes despite not being lawfully established.

Lawmakers say the investigation is aimed at establishing how the purported agency emerged, identifying those responsible and recommending measures to prevent similar breaches of public administration. (BusinessDay)