Fake Agency used forged State House signature to secure recognition, AGF tells Reps

Fake Agency used forged State House signature to secure recognition, AGF tells Reps

Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, the Accountant-General of the Federation, has revealed that the controversial fake agency used a forged State House letter to obtain official government recognition.

The development came as the House Ad Hoc Committee directed Olatunji Disu, the Inspector-General of Police, to produce Adeyemi Adeniyi, the self-acclaimed director-general of the organisation, before lawmakers by 12 noon on Wednesday to answer questions over the alleged forgery of official government documents and the operations of the council.

The committee is working to unravel how the fictitious entity, parading itself as the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), which lawmakers insist has no legal backing, allegedly secured office accommodation in the Phase III Federal Secretariat in Abuja, sought budgetary allocations, recruited personnel and obtained official government recognition using what investigators believe are forged government documents.

Appearing before the committee, Ogunjimi said the Office of the Accountant-General first engaged with the purported council in November 2024 after receiving what appeared to be an authentic communication from the State House.

According to him, “a letter dated November 7, 2024, bearing a State House reference number, requested the creation of an administrative code for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council to facilitate budgeting, accounting and financial reporting.”

He explained that, following established procedures, “the Office of the Accountant-General processed the request, created the administrative code and communicated its approval to the State House,” while copying the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.

Following the approval, the treasury received further requests from the purported council seeking self-accounting status, deployment of personnel, the opening of Treasury Single Account and domiciliary accounts, as well as funding approvals.

Ogunjimi, however, insisted that despite processing some administrative requests, no government funds were released to the organisation.

“It is important to note that no funds were released under salaries, overhead, capital, or any form of intervention or special allocation to the council,” Ogunjimi told the committee.

He further revealed that although the council applied for an establishment grant of N27.4bn, the request was rejected because there was no budgetary provision to support it.

He also disclosed that while the Central Bank of Nigeria opened two domiciliary accounts for the organisation to receive inflows, the accounts never became operational because the council failed to meet the regulatory conditions required for activation.

Lawmakers expressed concern over how the purported agency was able to pass through several layers of government bureaucracy without raising suspicion.

Responding, Ogunjimi made what members described as one of the most significant disclosures of the hearing.

“The letter that was received by the treasury was respectfully addressed as coming from the State House.“That letter was never issued by the State House.”

The revelation prompted the committee to conclude that a forged State House correspondence had allegedly been used to mislead government institutions into granting official recognition to an agency that did not legally exist.

The Accountant-General also explained how two civil servants originally deployed to the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President remained in the office after it was allegedly taken over by the purported council without the knowledge of his office.

“It was never assumed or written to us that those two officers were being taken over.“The staff also never reported to the office to say that another council had taken over the office and the name had changed.

“As far as I was concerned, we were dealing with a new agency, not the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser,” he said.He added that when the purported council later sought the deployment of five additional officers, only three were approved because the size of the organisation did not justify the request.

“It was when all this matter came to light that I got to know that two of our staff were actually working or being absorbed by the agency.“We never knew. We believed, based on the records available to us, that those officers were still with the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser,” he added.

Earlier, Bashir Abdullahi, assistant Commissioner of Police representing the Inspector-General of Police, confirmed that the Nigeria Police Force had already filed an eight-count charge against Adeyemi before the Federal High Court.

“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,” he said.

He disclosed that although the suspect had been arrested and arraigned, the police would not disclose details capable of prejudicing ongoing investigations or judicial proceedings.“We don’t want to say things that are under investigation. It is definitely going to prejudice the ongoing investigation and make people have opinions that may prejudge the outcome of an investigation or judicial decision,” Abdullahi stated.

The police confirmed that the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President petitioned security agencies on October 17, 2025, over allegations that Adeyemi fraudulently presented himself as the director-general of both the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council.

Investigators also confirmed receiving another petition alleging that Adeyemi used the purported offices to obtain accommodation within the Federal Secretariat, sought approval to recruit about 300 personnel, attempted to secure a $1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act for the non-existent agency and planned to organise a World Investment Summit under the platform of the council.

One of the major moments of the hearing came when lawmakers compared signatures on documents purportedly issued from the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President with authentic signatures obtained by the police.

Asked whether the signatures matched, ACP Abdullahi replied emphatically, “They are not the same.”

The committee said the discrepancy reinforced suspicions that official State House documents had been forged.

Yusuf Gagdi, the committee chairman said investigators had uncovered a wider web of forged official documents.

“So, it is not only a letter that was suspected to be 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.