A House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the phantom Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council has uncovered at least 29 allegedly forged official documents — including one bearing the purported signature of Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila — and has ordered the Inspector-General of Police to produce arrested suspect Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew before the panel.
The phantom investment council scandal just grew considerably more serious — and the paper trail is damning.
The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the activities of the purported Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council revealed on Tuesday that at least 29 allegedly forged official documents have been uncovered, linked directly to the fake agency and its self-styled Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew.
Committee Chairman Yusuf Gagdi made the disclosure during the appearance of Accountant-General of the Federation Shamseldeen Ogunjimi before the panel. As reported by The Nation, the forged documents allegedly bear the names of some of Nigeria’s most sensitive institutions — including the State House, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Perhaps most strikingly, one document allegedly carries the forged signature of Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila — raising the stakes of what is already a high-profile fraud investigation.
Gagdi was direct about the urgency. “People’s names are involved. People’s integrity is involved. Institutional names are involved. Institutional integrity is involved. It is no longer optional,” he said, directing the Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu to produce Adeyemi before the committee by noon the following day.
Adeyemi has been in police custody since his arrest at a hideout in Osun State on July 15, following a bench warrant issued after he allegedly failed to appear in court to face criminal charges. An Assistant Commissioner of Police, Bashir Abdullahi, confirmed before the panel that some documents issued in the agency’s name were fake and disclosed that the police had already filed an eight-count charge against the suspect before the Federal High Court.
Thirteen civil servants linked to the PFIPC’s operations from the OSGF, the Office of the Accountant-General and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service have been summoned to appear before the committee to explain their roles.
The investigation continues.
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