Reps panel raises questions over SGF office’s role in space allocation to ‘fake’ PFIPC

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, has raised questions over the role of officials in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) in allocating an office at the Federal Secretariat to the head of the agency under investigation.

Gagdi said the committee was examining how Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who allegedly headed the PFIPC, secured an office within the Federal Secretariat despite questions over the legal existence of the agency.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Gagdi said accommodation for public servants at the Federal Secretariat ordinarily falls under the authority of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), making the allocation of the office through the SGF’s office a matter requiring further investigation.

He said the committee was particularly interested in correspondence from the SGF’s office to the Head of Service requesting office accommodation for presidential special assistants.

According to Gagdi, some permanent secretaries in the SGF’s office had been suspended over issues connected with such requests, adding that the committee was examining the circumstances surrounding the allocation.

He said the committee would seek further clarification from the Head of Service on the process through which the office was allocated and the identities of those who authorised or facilitated the arrangement.

Gagdi also disclosed that the committee was investigating whether the office occupied by the alleged PFIPC head had previously been assigned to another presidential official.

He said security sources informed the committee that the same office may previously have been occupied by a Special Adviser on Economic Affairs during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.

The committee, he added, had written to the Head of Service to provide information on the history of the office, its allocation and previous occupants.

The lawmaker said the issue was part of a wider investigation into how an agency whose legal status was in dispute managed to secure government facilities and become embedded in the administrative structure of the Federal Government.

Gagdi said the committee had also uncovered documents allegedly used to establish and operationalise the agency, some of which he described as forged or questionable.

He alleged that Adeyemi used a State House letterhead to create the nomenclature “Office of the Director Administration and Support Service”, despite the committee’s finding that such an office did not exist in the Presidential Villa.

He further alleged that an individual identified as Akambi Adewale, described in one of the documents as a director, could not be found on the State House nominal roll.

Gagdi said the committee obtained the nominal roll from the State House and found no such staff member from the creation of the institution to date.

The committee chairman said it had also examined an alleged appointment letter, State House approval, request for a budget code, a purported Act of the National Assembly and other documents connected with the agency.

He said the purported Act was not authenticated or gazetted and lacked what he described as a “springboard number”.

The committee is also examining alleged discrepancies in State House letterheads, logos and reference numbers appearing on some of the documents.

On the financial aspect of the investigation, Gagdi disclosed that the committee had uncovered 12 agencies allegedly operating under one Bank Verification Number (BVN), as well as 58 active bank accounts.

“When a man can have 12 agencies with one BVN, knowingly well that it can be traced and it can be found, 12! If a man can have 58 accounts that are active, active, 58, that money comes in and goes, you can’t underestimate what such a person can do,” he said.

He said the committee was conducting forensic analysis of thousands of pages of bank statements to establish the sources and destinations of funds that passed through the accounts.

Gagdi stressed that the committee had not found evidence that government funds were released to PFIPC, despite the agency securing a budget code.

He said the agency only appeared in the 2026 budget and that no appropriated funds had been released to it.

“It has not been released… no one Naira as far as appropriation is concerned,” he said.

The lawmaker, however, said the financial records contained transactions involving individuals, contractors, companies and family members.

“There was a financial transaction not from government, from individuals, contractors, companies, from brothers, from family members that come in and go out,” he said.

Gagdi also disclosed that the committee identified about three accounts allegedly operated by the agency with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He said the Accountant-General of the Federation had communicated with the CBN to open the accounts based on representations that necessary documentation and approvals had been completed by relevant government offices.

“They were misled,” he said.

The committee chairman further said the investigation had established that Adeyemi did not operate alone, describing the alleged operation as involving “a lot of accomplices”.

He said the committee was examining the roles of various individuals and officials who may have facilitated the agency’s operations.

Gagdi also disclosed that the committee had interrogated Adeyemi while he was in police custody after the police informed lawmakers that he was being held pursuant to a court order.

He said the committee chose not to compel the police to produce him before the lawmakers, noting that doing so could undermine judicial supremacy and separation of powers.

Instead, members of the committee visited him at the police facility and conducted a closed-door interrogation.

Gagdi declined to disclose details of the interrogation because Adeyemi was still facing investigations by the ICPC, EFCC and the police cybercrime unit.

He said the committee had received three petitions concerning the matter, none of which was against former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu.

One petitioner, according to Gagdi, alleged that he was defrauded of N400 million after being brought from Ibadan to Abuja and shown a residence.

He said the petitioner presented evidence of four separate transfers totalling N400 million, allegedly representing Adeyemi’s share for facilitating the release of N2 billion for a contract awarded to an Ibadan-based contractor.

On former Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, Gagdi said the committee had not ruled out inviting anyone if evidence warranted such action.

He said a document purportedly signed by Gbajabiamila had been presented to the committee, but comparison with other official documents raised questions about its authenticity.

According to him, between 19 and 22 government agencies submitted exhibits and correspondence that did not tally with the disputed appointment letter.

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Gagdi said the committee therefore considered the document questionable and did not invite Gbajabiamila at that stage.

“If the evidence relevant before us have warranted inviting Femi, if we have invited Secretary to the Government of the Federation, why can’t we invite Right Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila?” he asked.

He said the committee’s ultimate task was to establish how an agency whose legal status was in dispute became incorporated into the Federal Government’s administrative and budgetary system.

Gagdi disclosed that the committee had asked the House to expand its mandate to conduct a legislative audit of government agencies across the country.

“If you check our press briefing, we have asked the House to expand the mandate of the committee to do like a legislative auditing of all legitimate agencies that are existing in Nigerian Federation,” he said.

He said the audit would help determine which agencies were created by military proclamation, presidential orders or legislation by the National Assembly and identify institutions whose legal foundations require further scrutiny.

Gagdi stressed that the committee’s findings were preliminary and that a final report would be presented before the House with recommendations for consideration and possible implementation.