Nigeria’s anti-corruption watchdog says the fake agency scandal involving self-styled Director-General Adeniyi Matthew Adeyemi runs deeper than initially believed, uncovering two additional fraudulent government bodies as part of an expanding investigation into how the scheme managed to operate undetected within official structures.
ICPC Chairman Dr. Musa Adamu Aliyu disclosed the new findings while briefing State House correspondents after submitting the commission’s interim report at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. According to the report, Adeyemi was never actually appointed by the Federal Government, and the entity he claimed to head, the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, was never established through any law or executive order. Investigators found that the appointment letter Adeyemi presented was forged, and that the fake council had illegally taken over office space and official instruments that once belonged to the now-defunct Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
Operating out of that appropriated office, Aliyu said, the fake agency engaged in false representation, widespread impersonation, and various illegal activities, exploiting gaps in verification processes and oversight coordination between agencies to sustain the deception.
The investigation’s scope has since widened considerably. Beyond the original fake council, ICPC identified two further fraudulent agencies, the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, both built on forged legislative instruments and used to open bank accounts for illicit purposes. “These agencies were created using forged legislative instruments and were used to open bank accounts for illegal activities,” Aliyu said.
Investigators also noted that Adeyemi had altered the fake agency’s name at some point, shifting it from Foreign Investment Promotion Council to Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, while separately attempting to expand its stated mandate to include revenue generation, a move that suggests an effort to deepen the scheme’s reach rather than simply maintain it. Despite the scale of the operation, Aliyu was clear that no actual government funds were compromised. “The investigation found no funds were approved or disbursed for the fake PFIPC/PEAC, and there were no weaknesses in the State House or CBN system,” he said.
The commission’s interim recommendations include prosecuting Adeyemi directly, imposing administrative sanctions on public officials found to have facilitated the scheme, and implementing broader reforms to strengthen internal verification controls going forward. Notably, the officials identified as potential collaborators span several key government offices, including the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Accountant-General’s Office, the Budget Office, and the National Information Technology Development Agency.
Aliyu stressed that the report remains a work in progress, with the investigation continuing to gather additional evidence ahead of formal criminal charges against Adeyemi and anyone found to have assisted him. He added that President Tinubu has been briefed on the findings and has reaffirmed his commitment to transparency and accountability as the case moves forward.
