The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, has told the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee investigating the activities of a purported presidential agency that it secured official government recognition using a forged State House letter.
The disclosure came as the committee directed the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to produce Adeyemi Adeniyi, who claims to be the Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), before lawmakers by 12 noon on Wednesday to answer questions over the alleged forgery of government documents and the operations of the organisation.
The committee is investigating how the PFIPC, which lawmakers insist has no legal backing, allegedly secured office accommodation at the Phase III Federal Secretariat in Abuja, sought budgetary allocations, recruited personnel and obtained official recognition using what investigators believe are forged government documents.
Appearing before the panel, Ogunjimi said the Office of the Accountant-General first dealt with the purported council in November 2024 after receiving what appeared to be an authentic communication from the State House.
He said a letter dated 7 November 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.
According to him, the Office of the Accountant-General followed established procedures by creating additional requests from the purported council seeking self-accounting status, deployment of personnel, the opening of Treasury Single Account and domiciliary accounts, the administrative code and communicating its approval to the State House, with a copy sent to the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.
Following the approval, the treasury received additional 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, stressed that no public 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,” he told the committee.
He disclosed that although the council requested an establishment grant of ₦27.4 billion, the application was rejected because there was no budgetary provision for it.
The AGF also said the Central Bank of Nigeria opened two domiciliary accounts for the organisation to receive inflows, but the accounts never became operational because the council failed to meet the regulatory requirements for activation.
Lawmakers questioned how the purported agency had passed through multiple layers of government bureaucracy without raising suspicion.
In response, Ogunjimi made what committee members described as one of the hearing’s most significant revelations.
“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 committee concluded that forged State House correspondence had allegedly been used to mislead government institutions into granting official recognition to an organisation that did not legally exist.
Ogunjimi also explained how two civil servants deployed to the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President remained there after the office 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 organisation later requested the deployment of five additional officers, only three were approved because its size 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, Assistant Commissioner of Police Bashir Abdullahi, representing the Inspector-General of Police, confirmed that the Nigeria Police Force had filed an eight-count charge against Adeyemi at the Federal High Court.
He said the suspect had been arrested and arraigned but declined to disclose details that could prejudice ongoing investigations or court proceedings.
According to Abdullahi, the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President petitioned security agencies on 17 October 2025 over allegations that Adeyemi falsely presented himself as Director-General of both the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council.
Investigators also received a separate petition alleging that Adeyemi used the purported offices to obtain accommodation at the Federal Secretariat, sought approval to recruit about 300 personnel, attempted to secure a ₦1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act for the non-existent agency and planned to organise a World Investment Summit under the council’s platform.
A key 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 authenticated signatures obtained by the police.
Asked whether the signatures matched, Abdullahi replied: “They are not the same.”
The committee said the discrepancy reinforced suspicions that official State House documents had been forged.
Committee Chairman Yusuf Gagdi said investigators had uncovered a broader network of forged government 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.
According to Gagdi, investigators have identified about 29 allegedly forged documents, including purported approvals from the State House, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Ministry of Finance and several other government institutions.
He said representatives of many of the affected agencies had already appeared before the committee and disowned the documents attributed to their offices.
While acknowledging the ongoing police investigation, Gagdi said the committee had deliberately avoided compelling investigators to disclose information that could undermine criminal proceedings.
“We are avoiding a situation whereby they will be pushed to make statements that will undermine their ongoing investigation,” he said.
Explaining why Adeyemi must personally appear before the committee, Gagdi said the seriousness of the allegations made his attendance essential.
“This committee clearly needs the suspected DG to appear before this committee. People’s names are involved. People’s integrity is involved. Institutional names are involved. Institutional integrity is involved.
“It is not an option now. We will need him here to confirm some documents to us in such a way that will not undermine our investigation to enable us to submit our report on time.”
The committee subsequently directed its clerk to formally notify the Inspector-General of Police of its resolution.
“The committee hereby resolves that the Inspector-General of Police of the Federal Republic of Nigeria do kindly present Mr Adeyemi on Wednesday by 12 noon. That is the ruling of the committee,” Gagdi declared.
The committee is expected to conclude its investigation with recommendations on possible administrative, legislative and criminal action against those found culpable in what lawmakers described as an elaborate scheme involving forged presidential approvals, counterfeit State House correspondence, fake Acts of the National Assembly and other falsified government documents used to establish and operate the purported presidential agencies.
