Fake Agency Scandal: How Adeyemi allegedly funded PFIPC

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has said that the Director General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), Adeniyi Adeyemi, relied on private individuals and companies to finance the organisation’s operations.

The commission said Mr Adeyemi told investigators that he obtained hundreds of millions of naira in loans to run the office and organise the World Investment Summit, an event he promoted through the controversial agency.

The findings provide another glimpse into how the organisation operated despite the federal government’s position that it was never legally established and that Mr Adeyemi was never appointed its Director-General.

The ICPC said Mr Adeyemi claimed that he secured a N400 million loan from Divine Dopacy Nigeria Limited, owned by Oyekunle Oluwagbemiga, for personal engagements and the running of his office.

He also claimed to have obtained another N200 million loan from Sparrow Nigeria Limited, owned by Alhaji Habib, to finance the World Investment Summit.

The claims were contained in the commission’s interim investigation report submitted to President Bola Tinubu on 6 August and obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.

The World Investment Summit featured prominently in Mr Adeyemi’s activities while he presented himself as head of PFIPC. PREMIUM TIMES had reported that he promoted the summit as a major investment event and had organised a pre-summit dinner attended by members of the diplomatic community, development partners and private-sector figures.

The ICPC investigation also found that World Entrepreneurship University Limited, a company registered by Mr Adeyemi, was used for financial transactions connected with his activities.

The commission recommended further analysis of bank accounts linked to Mr Adeyemi and the other sources of funds he claimed to have obtained as loans.

The findings came as investigators traced a wider network of activities through which Mr Adeyemi allegedly presented PFIPC as a legitimate government institution.

PREMIUM TIMES previously reported that the organisation occupied the second floor of the Federal Secretariat Complex, Phase III, in Abuja, and had civil servants deployed to work there.

The agency also pursued government approvals, corresponded with ministries and agencies and sought access to public funds.

This newspaper also reported how the purported agency obtained access to CBN accounts after the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation acted on a request attributed to Mr Adeyemi. The CBN later confirmed that it had created dollar and pound accounts linked to PFIPC.

The ICPC said its investigation established that PFIPC had no valid enabling law, executive order or other recognised government instrument establishing it.

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Yet the organisation gained visibility and access to government structures through what the commission described as forged documents, administrative processes, occupation of federal office premises and engagements with public institutions and members of the diplomatic community.

N400 million loan claim

According to the ICPC report, Mr Adeyemi told investigators that the N400 million obtained from Divine Dopacy Nigeria Limited was a loan for personal expenses and office operations.

The company is owned by Oyekunle Oluwagbemiga.

Mr Oluwagbemiga later appeared before the House of Representatives committee investigating the PFIPC scandal and gave a different account of his financial dealings with Mr Adeyemi.

He told lawmakers that he paid N400 million after Mr Adeyemi presented himself as a genuine federal government official and offered his company a government contract to renovate and furnish an official residence.

Mr Oluwagbemiga said he was persuaded by Mr Adeyemi’s office at the Federal Secretariat, by vehicles bearing government number plates, and by the presence of security personnel and visitors whom he regarded as dignitaries.

He said Mr Adeyemi gave him a contract award letter, a scope of work and an agreement for the proposed refurbishment project before asking him to provide N400 million.

The account raises questions about the nature and purpose of the N400 million transaction identified in the ICPC report as a loan.

The ICPC has recommended further investigation of the funds and bank accounts associated with Mr Adeyemi.

N200 million for World Investment Summit

Mr Adeyemi also told investigators that he obtained N200 million from Sparrow Nigeria Limited, owned by Alhaji Habib, to organise the World Investment Summit.

The summit was one of the major projects Mr Adeyemi promoted while presenting PFIPC as a federal government institution.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Adeyemi had promoted a 2026 World Investment Summit scheduled for October before websites associated with the event were taken down. He had claimed the summit could generate as much as N5 trillion in foreign direct investment.

The ICPC’s finding that private funds were allegedly used to finance the event adds another dimension to the controversial agency’s operations.

It also underscores the extent to which Mr Adeyemi’s activities extended beyond presenting himself as a government official. He was also building an investment platform around the identity of an organisation that the government now says never existed.

Officials named in summit documents deny involvement

The ICPC also found that some prominent individuals whose names appeared in documents or invitations connected with the World Investment Summit did not authorise their inclusion or participate in the event.

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Among them was Nentawe Yilwatda, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The commission said Mr Yilwatda and other individuals whose names appeared in summit-related documents or invitations did not authorise their inclusion or participation.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, for instance, said he was among officials who unwittingly interacted with representatives of PFIPC and appeared in photographs with Mr Adeyemi. He described himself as a victim of what he called a sophisticated impersonation scheme.

How the scheme gained government access

The ICPC concluded that Mr Adeyemi was the principal individual responsible for presenting, promoting and operating PFIPC as a government entity.

But the commission also identified institutional failures that allowed the organisation to move through government systems despite the absence of a confirmed legal foundation.

According to the report, several government institutions engaged with PFIPC based on representations and documents presented by Mr Adeyemi, as well as on what the commission described as petty corruption, negligence, and undue deference to the State House, rather than independent verification of its legal status.

The commission said weaknesses in document authentication, office allocation, manpower approval processes and inter-agency coordination created opportunities for the purported agency to progress through government administrative systems.

Those weaknesses ultimately contributed to PFIPC’s inclusion in the 2026 national budget.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the 2026 Appropriation Act contained a N1.3 billion allocation for the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council under the Presidency. Mr Adeyemi later denied preparing or defending the budget.

The ICPC has recommended Mr Adeyemi’s prosecution for alleged forgery, impersonation and related offences.

He has denied the allegations and said he would prove his innocence in court.

The ICPC has recommended that those financial transactions be subjected to further scrutiny.

Another fake agency uncovered

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 PFIPC, raising fresh questions about weaknesses in the verification and oversight mechanisms that allow individuals and organisations to present themselves as legitimate government entities.

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