By Eshioromeh Sebastian
Fresh documents have thrown up contradictory claims surrounding the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, as official correspondence shows the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation processed the agency’s request for office accommodation, even as physical searches at the Federal Secretariat failed to locate any trace of the purported council.
According to official documents and report by Saturday PUNCH, the SGF’s office received, acknowledged, and formally forwarded a request from the PFIPC seeking office space from recovered Federal Government properties through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
This occurred several months before the Presidency publicly disowned the agency as fictitious.
The forwarding letter, dated November 21, 2024, was signed by the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office, Nnamdi Maurice Mbaeri, on behalf of the SGF. Attached to it was a November 7, 2024, request from the self-styled Director-General of the PFIPC, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, seeking office accommodation for the council.
Registry document shows that the SGF’s office received Adeyemi’s request on November 12, 2024, before forwarding it to the anti-graft agency nine days later.
The forwarding letter, titled “Request for Office Accommodation,” informed the EFCC that three government institutions had applied for office accommodation from recovered Federal Government properties. It specifically identified one of the requests as Ref. No. SH/DG/PFIPC/RQ/107, dated November 7, 2024, submitted by Adeyemi.
The letter stated, “I am directed to forward the attached copies of letters requesting allocation of office accommodation from the recovered Federal Government landed properties for further necessary action.”
Despite the official paper trail, Punch reported that a visit to the Federal Secretariat in Abuja yielded no evidence of the PFIPC’s physical presence.
The report explained that security personnel and civil servants contacted during the visit said they were unaware of the existence or location of the PFIPC’s office. No signpost bearing the agency’s name was found anywhere within the Secretariat.
At the Federal Ministry of Health building, it observed that some offices were occupied by departments under the Presidency. However, there was still no indication that the PFIPC operated from the premises.
Further checks showed that the agency previously operated a website on the Federal Government’s domain: https://www.pfipc.gov.ng/. Although the website was no longer accessible as of the time of filing this report, an open-source intelligence check indicated that the domain was last active in April 2025.
The Presidency has consistently maintained that the PFIPC never officially existed. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described Adeyemi as an “irredeemable con artist” attempting to use the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, as “his last straw.”
The Presidency outlined the criminal case against Adeyemi, including the police investigation report, the charges filed against him, and what it described as his long history of fraudulent conduct.
According to the Presidency, Gbajabiamila first raised the alarm in October 2024 after being alerted by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission that another organisation appeared to be operating at cross-purposes with it and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had questioned the activities of a group claiming to be the PFIPC.
The Chief of Staff’s October 17, 2025, petition to the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police Force, which was sighted by our correspondent, stated that “fraudsters and imposters” forged appointment letters issued from his office. The petition noted that the group operated under the name “Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council cum Presidential Economic Advisory Council,” with an office allegedly at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Phase III, Abuja.
Adeyemi is currently facing criminal prosecution on charges of conspiracy, forgery, impersonation, and related offences. The Federal Government has listed Gbajabiamila and 10 others as witnesses in the case.
A copy of the charge sheet, filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, obtained by our correspondent, shows that Adeyemi and two others, identified as Femi and Anu, who are said to be at large, are facing charges of conspiracy, forgery, impersonation, and related offences.
According to the eight-count charge, the suspects allegedly operated a fictitious government agency and forged official presidential documents to give it legitimacy. The alleged offences were committed between 2024 and 2025.
Count Two of the charge reads: “That you, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew… forged an appointment letter purportedly issued by His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR… and signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.”
In Count Five, the prosecution alleged that Adeyemi falsely presented himself as the Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council.
The charges, brought under the Miscellaneous Offences Act and the Penal Code, accuse the defendants of creating a fictitious Federal Government agency and using forged documents bearing presidential insignia, reference numbers, and official seals.
Police Report Details Alleged Fraud
An interim report by the Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Unit, filed as part of the court processes, stated that the investigation was triggered by a petition from the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.
According to the report, “The attention of the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President was drawn to the activities of some individuals and groups who were fraudulently forging official appointment letters purportedly issued from the said office.”
Police alleged that the forged documents carried falsified signatures, reference numbers, and official seals, which were used to create leadership positions in what investigators described as a non-existent agency.
“The forged documents had falsified signatures, reference/folio numbers and seals, and were used to claim leadership appointments into non-existing entities, particularly one known as the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC),” the report stated.
Investigators further alleged that Adeyemi presented himself as the head of the agency and held meetings with both Nigerians and foreign nationals in that capacity.
The report also claimed that Adeyemi wrote to several government institutions, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requesting diplomatic assistance for visa facilitation.
“The suspect went as far as writing to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, soliciting a Note Verbale to the Embassy of the United States of America to facilitate the issuance of entry visas for some of his purported staff members,” the report added.
Police said Adeyemi was arrested on October 27, 2025, following surveillance and intelligence gathering, after which search warrants were executed at his office and residence in Suleja, Niger State.
Investigators said they recovered several exhibits, including alleged forged appointment letters, official letterheads, correspondence addressed to Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and documents bearing presidential insignia.
Questions Over Systemic Gaps
The controversy has raised questions about how an allegedly fictitious agency was able to secure official approvals, correspond with government institutions, and interact with multiple agencies for months without detection.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, acknowledged that systemic weaknesses had allowed the alleged fraud to flourish but argued that the same system ultimately exposed it.
“What is not in doubt is that internal collaborators enabled Adeniyi to get this far. That is precisely what investigators from the DSS, the Police and the EFCC must now unravel,” Ajayi wrote on his X handle.
“The criminal network within the affected institutions must be dismantled, and everyone found to have played a role should be arrested and prosecuted.”
EFCC, SGF Remain Silent
Efforts to obtain the reaction of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report. Several calls to the EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, went unanswered, while a text message seeking the commission’s reaction did not receive a response.
Similarly, the Special Adviser on Media to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yomi Odunuga, requested a copy of the correspondence, saying the SGF would only comment after reviewing the document.
Calls for Independent Probe
Human rights lawyer Femi Falana faulted the Presidency’s position, arguing that it lacked the constitutional authority to exonerate anyone connected with the matter. He called on the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to conduct an independent investigation into both Gbajabiamila and Adeyemi.
Falana also demanded explanations over the alleged budgeting of N24 billion for the purported agency and how it was able to open an account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The African Democratic Congress and the Nigeria Democratic Congress have called for an independent probe and the immediate removal of Gbajabiamila over allegations linking him to the operations of the alleged non-existent government agency.
A coalition of civil society organisations has also called for an independent investigation into allegations surrounding accounts allegedly opened with the Central Bank of Nigeria and budgetary allocations linked to the PFIPC.
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