Fake Agency Scandal: ICPC clears Gbajabiamila, gives reasons

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) says it has found no evidence linking the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, to the appointment of Adeniyi Adeyemi as director-general of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), a fake federal agency.

The commission said its investigation found that Mr Adeyemi personally forged an appointment letter dated March 2024 on a fake State House letterhead and attributed the signature on the document to Mr Gbajabiamila.

The investigation also found no evidence that Mr Adeyemi was appointed by the Chief of Staff or had any direct engagement with him.

According to the ICPC, there was no evidence linking Mr Gbajabiamila, the Office of the Chief of Staff or the State House to Mr Adeyemi, the PFIPC or anyone acting on behalf of the purported council.

The findings provide fresh details about the scandal involving Mr Adeyemi, who presented himself as the head of an agency that had no legal basis but was able to secure office space, government recognition and Central Bank of Nigeria accounts.

PREMIUM TIMES previously reported how the PFIPC used correspondence presented by Mr Adeyemi to obtain an office and process requests for government accounts. The scandal exposed serious weaknesses in the verification processes of several public institutions.

The ICPC’s 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 has now 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. The commission recommended his prosecution for alleged forgery, impersonation and related offences.

Forged appointment

The ICPC investigation examined whether Mr Adeyemi was truly appointed, whether the appointment letter he presented was authentic, what role the Office of the Chief of Staff plays in such appointments and the circumstances surrounding his claim to the position.

Investigators found that the Office of the Chief of Staff does not issue appointment letters to political appointees or heads of ministries, departments and agencies.

Its role, the ICPC said, is limited to conveying presidential approvals to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, which then issues the actual appointment letters.

The commission said it also examined the Chief of Staff’s official correspondence records, including its dispatch system and Automated Correspondence Management platform. It found no trace of any communication involving Mr Adeyemi or the PFIPC between 2024 and September 2025.

The first official inquiry into the PFIPC came in October 2025, when the Office of the National Security Adviser sought clarification on the agency’s status. After officials confirmed that the agency had no legal basis, the Office of the Chief of Staff wrote to the Inspector-General of Police requesting a formal investigation.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that scrutiny of the agency intensified as more government institutions began asking questions about Mr Adeyemi and his council. The presidency eventually disowned the PFIPC, and Mr Adeyemi was charged over its operations.

Fake State House documents

The ICPC said its review of State House records between 2023 and 2026 found no Director of Administration named Akanbi Adewale.

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The name appeared on a letter requesting an administrative code for the PFIPC from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. The letter purportedly indicated that Mr Adewale signed as Director of Administration and Support Services on behalf of the Permanent Secretary.

Investigators found that Mr Adewale was never a State House employee and was not deployed there during the period under investigation.

The ICPC also found that the State House has no department known as the “Administration and Support Services”. The relevant department is designated the “Administration Department”.

A visual examination of the documents also showed differences between genuine State House letterheads and the letterhead used in the correspondence presented by Mr Adeyemi. Investigators concluded that the letterhead used by Mr Adeyemi did not originate from the State House because it lacked security features found on genuine State House letterheads, the commission said.

The commission also said a forensic handwriting examination established that the signature purportedly made by Mr Adewale was fabricated by Mr Adeyemi.

According to the findings, the signature and handwriting on Mr Adeyemi’s other correspondence were produced by the same person.

The ICPC, therefore, concluded that the letter used to request an administrative code from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation was forged and did not emanate from the State House.

The commission also found that the signature purported to belong to Mr Gbajabiamila on the letter conveying Mr Adeyemi’s appointment differed from the Chief of Staff’s specimen signature.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported that Mr Gbajabiamila denied writing, authorising or signing documents presented as State House correspondence involving the PFIPC.

How the system failed

Beyond the alleged forgery, the ICPC investigation identified significant verification failures across government institutions.

The commission found that ministries, departments and agencies failed to conduct adequate checks when they encountered the purported new agency.

It said weaknesses in administrative processes, particularly the failure to verify the authenticity of documents before acting on them, allowed the alleged fraud to continue.

Those failures had already been documented in PREMIUM TIMES’ investigation into how Mr Adeyemi’s purported agency penetrated several layers of the federal bureaucracy.

Documents reviewed by this newspaper showed that 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 correspondence from the PFIPC as though it were a legitimate government agency.

The purported agency secured office space at the Federal Secretariat, opened government accounts and had civil servants deployed to work there, PREMIUM TIMES previously reported.

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The ICPC’s findings now indicate that these actions were made possible, in part, by the failure of relevant institutions to independently verify the documents presented to them.

Adeyemi’s shifting claims

Mr Adeyemi has denied wrongdoing and maintained that he would defend himself against the allegations.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES in July, he described the government’s actions against him as a “defence mechanism” and said he did not consider himself safe.

He had earlier claimed that Mr Gbajabiamila was involved in his appointment and alleged that he paid money to someone he believed was the Chief of Staff.

In a subsequent interview, however, Mr Adeyemi softened his position, saying he could not say with certainty whether Mr Gbajabiamila was involved in issuing the purported appointment letter.

Mr Gbajabiamila has consistently denied the allegations. He later petitioned law enforcement authorities and filed a N15 billion defamation suit against Mr Adeyemi.

President Tinubu subsequently ordered the ICPC to investigate the wider scandal. Mr Gbajabiamila appeared before the commission in July and answered investigators’ questions as part of the probe.

The ICPC has now concluded that there was no evidence connecting Mr Gbajabiamila, his office or the State House to Mr Adeyemi or the PFIPC.

Instead, the commission said its forensic examinations linked the forged appointment documents and other purported State House correspondence directly to Mr Adeyemi.

Mr Adeyemi is separately facing criminal charges over the activities of the PFIPC. PREMIUM TIMES reported that he was charged alongside two other defendants, who are said to be at large, over allegations including forgery and impersonation.

The ICPC’s findings, however, go beyond the question of who forged the documents. They also expose how weak verification procedures allowed a purported government agency with no legal foundation to obtain official recognition and gain access to multiple institutions of the federal government.

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.

On Friday, President 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.

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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.