The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the activities of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) has revealed that forged documents submitted by the organisation listed President Bola Tinubu and several top government officials as members of its governing board.
Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, disclosed this during an investigative hearing on Thursday while questioning the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Shehu Mohammed, over the issuance of seven official number plates to the PFIPC.
According to Gagdi, those named as board members in the documents included President Tinubu, Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and ministers overseeing finance, aviation, agriculture, interior, budget and economic planning, marine and blue economy, police affairs, transport, works and power.
The committee questioned why the FRSC accepted the documents without seeking independent verification from the Presidency and other relevant government institutions, despite the unusual composition of the purported board and the absence of official government security features.
Responding, Mohammed said the FRSC followed its standard operating procedures after receiving the PFIPC’s application in April 2025. He explained that officials examined documents presented by the organisation, verified vehicle chassis numbers, inspected its office at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja and reviewed its website, which bore a federal government domain, leading the agency to believe the council was legitimate.
Mohammed said the FRSC later discovered that the PFIPC was not a legally established government agency and has since begun retrieving the official number plates issued to the organisation while strengthening its verification processes to prevent a recurrence.
The development comes after the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) recommended the prosecution of Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi, alleged to have operated the PFIPC. The anti-graft agency cleared the Presidency and the Central Bank of Nigeria of wrongdoing but blamed institutional lapses in several ministries, departments and agencies for enabling the alleged fraud.