Gbajabiamila’s signatures on nine official letters were genuine, ‘fake’ DG appointment letter forged – HoR Panel

A House of Representatives panel investigating the phantom Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council has confirmed that the signature purportedly used by Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila to appoint Adeniyi Adeyemi as Director-General is distinctly different from nine other authenticated official signatures from the same office — as it also emerged that Adeyemi allegedly intercepted a government letter that could have exposed the entire fraud.

Nine signatures matched. One didn’t. And that one changed everything.

House of Representatives Committee member Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi delivered a forensically precise bombshell during Wednesday’s investigative session into the phantom Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, confirming that the signature on the letter appointing Adeniyi Adeyemi as Director-General stands apart from nine verified official communications issued by the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President.

“Letters written by the Office of the Chief of Staff to the National Security Adviser, to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service — you are seated here — to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to the DSS, to the Nigerian Police, nine different letters from the Chief of Staff to the President, including some of his former signatures here, are unique and the same,” Gagdi told the committee. “Only the signature that differs is the signature that appointed that — so I’m trying to watch my words — the fake DG.”

As reported by SaharaReporters, the disclosure came as the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, appeared before the panel — which is also probing how the phantom council secured a N1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act.

The scandal deepened further with testimony from Accountant-General Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, who revealed that Adeyemi allegedly intercepted an official Treasury response letter before it could reach the State House — a communication that may have exposed the fraud at an early stage.

“Unfortunately, as events unfolded, it was discovered that that letter did not get to State House. It was hijacked, precisely by the same man who claimed to be the director-general,” Ogunjimi told the committee.

The Accountant-General traced his office’s first interaction with the PFIPC to November 2024, when a request on official State House letterhead sought the creation of an administrative code — processed in good faith before the deception unravelled.

Chief of Staff Femi Gbajabiamila has categorically denied issuing any appointment letter. Adeyemi was arrested on July 14 in Osun State and remains in custody.