..as Reps uncover fresh contradictions
…FRSC defends number plate allocation
By Gift ChapiOdekina, Abuja
The State House on Thursday distanced itself from the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), telling the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the body that it never requested a budget code from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) and had no knowledge of the council until reports about it appeared in the media.
The testimony came as the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Shehu Mohammed, defended the Corps’ decision to issue seven official Federal Government number plates to the purported agency, insisting the approvals followed established procedures and were based on documents and representations that appeared genuine.
The committee, chaired by Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, is probing the circumstances surrounding the alleged fraudulent establishment of the PFIPC and its inclusion in the Federal Government’s budget framework.
Representing the Permanent Secretary, State House, the Director of Administration, Abdulkadri Idris, categorically denied that the Presidency ever requested the generation of a budget code for the council.
“I want to state that we did not send any correspondence nor any request to the Office of the Accountant-General in respect of this council. We don’t even know anything about this council. We never heard about this council until we started seeing it in the media,” he said.
Idris further stated that the State House neither sought approval for the creation of the PFIPC nor had any statutory responsibility for establishing such bodies.
He also dismissed as fake documents before the committee purportedly issued by the State House.
According to him, a letter allegedly signed by one “Akande Adewale” as Director of Administration and Support Services could not have originated from the Presidency because no such official had ever served in the State House.
“I presented the list of Directors of Administration in the State House from 2003 to date, and there was no name resembling Akande Adewale.
“In addition, there is no department known as Directorate of Administration and Support Services in the State House. We have only the Department of Administration. Akande Adewale has never, ever been Director of Administration in the State House,” he said.
The committee received copies of official State House records previously submitted to the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre, including the list of past Directors of Administration and authentic State House letterheads, to support the testimony.
Following the presentation, Gagdi said the committee had uncovered major discrepancies between documents obtained from the Accountant-General’s Office and the official records of the State House.
“The State House has denied that it ever wrote any letter to the Accountant-General requesting for budget codes. Secondly, there is no Directorate of Administration and Support Services as contained in those documents.
“The Accountant-General responded to an office that the State House says does not exist, while the name of the signatory, Akande Adewale, is absent from all official records submitted to this committee,” Gagdi said.
He described the contradictions as a significant development in the investigation into how official government processes were allegedly manipulated.
The State House also denied issuing any appointment letter to the purported Director-General of the PFIPC, maintaining that appointments of Directors-General are political appointments conveyed by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), not by the State House.
“If the President approves any appointment, the conveyance is done by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation,” Pheelangwah added.
FRSC explains number plate approval
In a memorandum dated August 6, 2026, addressed to the committee and personally signed by Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed, the FRSC explained that it complied with the committee’s invitation to provide information on how official government number plates were allocated to the PFIPC.
The Corps Marshal said the FRSC remained committed to professionalism, transparency and strict adherence to administrative procedures in issuing official Federal Government vehicle number plates.
He outlined the Corps’ standard operating procedure, explaining that every requesting ministry, department or agency must submit a formal application, which is verified through the head of the relevant MDA. Newly established agencies are also required to submit their enabling law or instrument before approval is granted.
According to him, because the PFIPC presented itself as a newly established federal agency, the Corps subjected its application to additional scrutiny.
Mohammed disclosed that the process began with a letter dated April 4, 2025, from the Office of the Director-General of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, signed by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, requesting official government number plates.
He said a reminder dated April 11, 2025, was later received, while both letters were accompanied by documents purportedly establishing the agency, its mandate and a list of vehicles requiring registration.
The Corps Marshal further revealed that Prince Adeyemi personally delivered the request to the FRSC headquarters.
He said officers also visited the official website provided by the applicant, which bore a Federal Government domain and listed several senior government officials as members of the council’s governing board.
In addition, FRSC officials physically visited the council’s stated office at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Phase III, Second Floor, Central Business District, Abuja, where they found the office operational.
“Having completed the foregoing verification processes and being satisfied with the information presented, the Corps approved and allocated seven Official Federal Government Vehicle Number Plates to the Agency,” Mohammed said.
The vehicles included a 2024 bulletproof Lexus LX, two Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs and four Toyota Hilux vehicles, all assigned official PFIPC number plates ranging from PFIPC 01 to PFIPC 07 after their chassis numbers were verified.
However, the Corps Marshal said the FRSC was later shocked to discover that the PFIPC was not an approved Federal Government agency.
“It therefore came as a profound shock to the Corps when it subsequently emerged that the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council was not an approved Federal Government Agency and that the representations made by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi were false,” he stated.
He disclosed that the FRSC had commenced administrative processes to retrieve all seven official government number plates issued to the purported agency and had strengthened its internal verification procedures to prevent similar incidents.
During the hearing, Gagdi questioned aspects of the FRSC’s verification process after observing that the documents relied upon by the Corps lacked official Federal Government security features and unusually listed President Bola Tinubu, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and several ministers as members of the council’s governing board.
“Does this look normal to you?” Gagdi asked. Responding, the Corps Marshal admitted: “No, not at all.”
He nevertheless maintained that the Corps acted on the information available at the time, including the physical existence of the office, official-looking documentation, a government-domain website and successful verification of the vehicles’ chassis numbers.
The committee directed the FRSC to provide the current status and location of all vehicles registered under the PFIPC as investigations into the alleged fake agency continue.
Gagdi further stated that the Committee will conclude its investigation next week Wednesday. He asked that the Commitee Clark write an official invitation to all agency involved to appear again on Wednesday for conclusion.
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