Fake Agency Scandal: ICPC Recommends Disciplinary Action Against 13 Officials (full Names)

 

ICPC also recommends prosecution of Adeniyi Adeyemi and further investigation of officials and agencies that helped give legitimacy to the disputed agency.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has recommended administrative action against 13 public officials over their roles in the scandal involving the illegal Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).

The recommendation is contained in an ICPC investigation report examining how the organisation, which was not established by a valid legal instrument, gained access to government offices, financial systems and other administrative privileges.

The commission also recommended the prosecution of Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man who presented himself as the Director-General of the PFIPC, for forgery, impersonation, making false statements to public officers and criminal misrepresentation.

The recommendations offer a fresh indication of how deeply the purported agency penetrated the federal bureaucracy before the Presidency eventually disowned it.

The ICPC investigation followed President Bola Tinubu’s directive for a probe into the PFIPC. In its interim report submitted to the President on 6 August, which PREMIUM TIMES obtained, the commission said Mr Adeyemi was never appointed by the federal government and that the PFIPC was not established by any law, executive order or other valid government instrument.

13 officials recommended for administrative action
The ICPC recommended administrative action against Mimi Abu, director of the Organisation Design and Development Department at the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation; Rosemary Achem, special adviser on administration to the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation; and Patricia Akhigbe, an assistant director at the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

Others are Aminu Abdullahi, schedule officer, Office Allocation, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Bello Abdullahi, assistant director, IPSAS, National Chart of Accounts, Consolidated Account Department, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation; Sanni Olubunmi, director, Inspectorate Department, OAGF; and Jousha Kadiri Luka, director, Consolidated Accounts Department, OAGF.

The list also includes Muazu Balami, deputy director, Risk and Review, Inspectorate Department, OAGF; Omameh Florence, assistant director, Inspectorate Department, OAGF; Akinlose Moses, Inspectorate Department, OAGF; Ogaba Harry, chief accountant, OAGF; Esther Orji Okoli, principal executive officer I, OAGF; and Ogunbade Habeebat Ajibola, manager, Compliance and Regulation Department, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

The commission also recommended that the affected institutions implement relevant reforms identified in the report.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Adeyemi used documents presented as official presidential instruments to obtain office accommodation, seek self-accounting status and facilitate the opening of Central Bank of Nigeria accounts for the PFIPC. Several government agencies processed his requests on the assumption that the organisation was a legitimate federal institution.

Further investigation recommended
Beyond the administrative action, the ICPC recommended further investigation into the roles played by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance in what it described as the process through which legitimacy was accorded to the PEAC/PFIPC.

It also recommended inviting and interviewing officials and individuals connected to the newly uncovered fake MDAs, forged legislative Acts and Unity Bank accounts.

Those listed for further questioning include the managing director, chief compliance officer and relationship or account officer responsible for the Unity Bank accounts linked to the organisation.

The ICPC also recommended the invitation of OAGF officials, Adekunle Ajayi and Lovina Akabueze.

It further recommended an analysis of all bank accounts linked to Mr Adeyemi, as well as other sources of funds he claimed to have obtained as loans.

The recommendations come against the backdrop of mounting evidence that the purported agency was able to navigate several layers of the federal bureaucracy without its legal status being independently verified.

PREMIUM TIMES reported in July how the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the CBN acted on requests from Mr Adeyemi’s organisation.

In one instance, the OAGF wrote to the CBN on 29 July 2025 requesting the creation of four domiciliary accounts for two MDAs, including the PFIPC. The CBN subsequently confirmed the creation of dollar and pound accounts for the purported agency.

Mr Adeyemi also obtained access to office space at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja after presenting documents to government authorities. PREMIUM TIMES reported that he had approached the OSGF in November 2024 seeking office accommodation and self-accounting status.

How the purported agency gained legitimacy
According to the ICPC report, the PFIPC operated without a valid legal instrument establishing it as a federal government institution.

Despite the absence of a recognised enabling framework, the organisation acquired administrative visibility through documents presented as official instruments. It gained access to government facilities, interacted with public institutions and participated in administrative processes.

The report said the organisation projected itself as a government entity through representations made by its associates and gaps in institutional verification procedures.

Government officials who interacted with the organisation generally relied on the documents and information presented to them rather than independently verifying its legal status, according to the ICPC.

The commission said the investigation exposed weaknesses in the verification systems of government institutions and highlighted the need for stronger coordination among agencies.

It recommended stronger mechanisms for authenticating official documents and ensuring that only legally established government entities are granted access to public resources, government facilities, financial systems and other administrative privileges.

Presidency disowns PFIPC
The Presidency has maintained that neither the PFIPC nor Mr Adeyemi’s purported appointment existed under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, had described the PFIPC as fake and said Mr Adeyemi was never appointed to head such an agency. The ICPC investigation cleared Mr Gbajabiamila of any wrongdoing.

The investigation has already led to criminal proceedings against Mr Adeyemi. Police charged him and two other defendants with eight counts involving conspiracy, forgery and impersonation.

Mr Adeyemi was arrested in July after a Federal High Court in Abuja issued a warrant for his arrest when he failed to appear for his scheduled arraignment. He has denied wrongdoing and is expected to defend himself in court.

The ICPC said its findings and recommendations were submitted for consideration and appropriate action under applicable laws, regulations and public service procedures, while investigations continue into areas requiring further scrutiny.

Another fake agency
The discovery of the alleged PFIPC also led investigators to uncover another suspected fake agency, the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office, which allegedly operated within the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

President Bola Tinubu ordered the suspension of three permanent secretaries and the arrest of the agency’s alleged promoter, George Buchi Nwabueze.

ICPC Chairman Musa Aliyu said investigators also found that Mr Nwabueze operated under several variations of his name and that there were suspected collaborators within the OSGF.

The commission said forged legislative instruments were allegedly used to give the entities an appearance of legitimacy and facilitate the opening of bank accounts in their names.

The emergence of another purported agency within a federal government office has expanded the scandal beyond the PFIPC, raising fresh questions about weaknesses in the verification and oversight mechanisms that allow individuals and organisations to present themselves as legitimate government entities.

SOURCE: PREMIUM TIMES