Fresh details emerged on Wednesday in the House of Representatives’ investigation into the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, as the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, admitted that her office failed to carry out adequate due diligence before granting key approvals to the purported agency, The PUNCH reports.
Also, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation blamed one of its officials for diverting an official letter that allegedly helped sustain the scheme.
The ongoing probe centres on allegations that Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi, who presented himself as the Director-General of the PFIPC, secured official recognition for the body using allegedly fake appointment letters, fabricated legislative documents and other forged government records, despite the agency having no legal backing.
The House committee is investigating how several federal institutions processed and acted on the documents, leading to the purported agency receiving official approvals.
The House Ad-Hoc Committee probing the alleged creation of the PFIPC and the Presidential Economic Advisory Council without legal backing also said it had uncovered what it described as a web of fake appointment letters, fabricated legislative documents and fictitious government offices allegedly used by the promoters to obtain official recognition from federal institutions.
The Accountant-General’s Office identified one of its staff members, Bello Abdullahi, as the official responsible for diverting correspondence that was intended for the Permanent Secretary, State House, while Walson-Jack acknowledged that her office relied on documents that have now been found to be false before approving an authorised establishment and recruitment waiver for the agency.
The revelations emerged as the committee, chaired by the lawmaker representing Kanke/Kanam/Pankshin Federal Constituency of Plateau State, Yusuf Gagdi, intensified its probe into how the purported agency allegedly secured official recognition despite lacking any legal foundation.
Addressing the panel, the Director, Federal Project Financial Department, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Joshua Luka, explained the circumstances leading to the issuance of an administrative code to the fake agency.
According to him, the OAGF received what appeared to be an official request from the State House and deliberately addressed its response to the Permanent Secretary rather than directly to the agency.
“As part of our due diligence, what we did was to convey the administrative code to the Permanent Secretary, State House, and not to the so-called agency. The idea was that if it was not genuine, the whole thing would be unravelled,” Luka said.
The committee, however, faulted the explanation after evidence showed that the correspondence never reached the State House Permanent Secretary but was instead received by Mr Adeyemi.
Gagdi also disclosed that investigations had established that the Directorate of Administration and Support Services, which appeared on the correspondence, did not exist in the State House.
“There is no Directorate of Administration and Support Services in the State House. That office does not exist,” he said.
He criticised officials of the Accountant-General’s Office for allowing the suspect to receive official correspondence meant for another government office.
You allowed the fraudulent DG to come and pick the letter from your office instead of allowing someone from the Permanent Secretary’s office to receive it. If the letter had reached the Permanent Secretary, the fraud would have been unraveled immediately,” he said.
Luka, however, insisted that the failure resulted from the actions of a single official rather than an institutional breakdown.
“The problem here was not an office lapse; it was an individual lapse. Somebody was supposed to deliver that letter to the Permanent Secretary, State House, and it was not delivered there,” he explained.
When pressed to reveal the identity of the individual responsible, Luka mentioned Bello, who sat on a row behind him, at Hearing Room 028.
Bello admitted giving the letter to Adeyemi but his attempt to explain the circumstances was shut down by Gagdi.
Appearing before the panel, Walson-Jack conceded that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation acted on documents which had now been established to be false.
We now, having seen all the facts and observed all the documents, concede that we ought to have carried out more due diligence in the discharge of the duties of the office in issuing an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver to the PEAC/PFIPC,” she told the panel.
She explained that officials of the purported agency attended the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence, presenting themselves as representatives of a newly established federal agency and tendering what appeared to be an Establishment Act alongside a letter appointing a Director-General.
According to her, existing civil service procedures require newly established agencies seeking to recruit staff to submit an enabling Act, the appointment letter of the chief executive and other relevant documents before an authorised establishment and provisional recruitment waiver are granted.
She said her office processed the request based on the documents presented, describing the incident as unprecedented.
“In over almost a century of the Federal Civil Service, we have never encountered a situation like the current one. Criminals always try to be a step ahead of law enforcement,” she said.
However, when subjected to further questioning, Walson-Jack admitted that the supposed Establishment Act was clearly not genuine.
“I requested to see the documents myself and I saw that the Establishment Act was not really an authentic Act. I have almost 30 years of legal practice experience and immediately I saw it, I knew it was not real,” she stated.
