*Recommends prosecution of Adeyemi, administrative sanctions against complicit public officials
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has submitted an interim report to President Bola Tinubu on its investigation into the alleged fictitious Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), and uncovered two additional agencies allegedly created by Adeyemi—the FCT Investment Promotion Agency (FIFA) and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership (PIPA-PPP).
In the main, the Commission recommended the prosecution of the alleged Director-General, Adeniyi Adeyemi.
ICPC Chairman, Musa Aliyu, disclosed this on Thursday after meeting President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, 30 days after the President directed the anti-graft agency to comprehensively investigate the alleged PFIPC scandal.
According to Aliyu, preliminary findings have established that Adeyemi was at no time appointed by the federal government and that the purported appointment letter, gazette and other documents used to establish the agency were forged.
Speaking to State House Correspondents, Aliyu said the investigation also uncovered significant weaknesses in government verification and oversight processes, which were allegedly exploited to create the impression that the PFIPC was a legitimate government agency.
“Our interim report found that there were weaknesses in verification, inter-agency oversight and government processes. We discovered that those weaknesses were exploited by Adeniyi, with some level of negligence.
“Our investigation found that no Federal Government funds were approved or disbursed to the fake PFIPC/PEAC,” the ICPC boss stated.
Aliyu further disclosed that the alleged fake Director-General “used forged legislative instruments styled as enabling acts, to support opening of bank accounts.”
The ICPC chairman said the commission had recommended Adeyemi’s prosecution, “administrative sanctions against public officers whose negligence allegedly enabled the operation of the fake agency, and institutional reforms aimed at strengthening internal controls across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)”.
“Our recommendation is that Mr. Adeyemi should be prosecuted. Administrative sanctions should also be imposed on public officers whose acts of omission and negligence facilitated the illegal operation of PFIPC/PEAC.
“There is also a need for institutional reforms so that the internal controls of MDAs can be strengthened to prevent this kind of illegal activity,” he stated.
Aliyu noted that the report submitted to President Tinubu was only an interim report, stressing that investigations were still on-going to identify other collaborators and build a stronger criminal case.
“We have continued with the investigation of the activities of Mr. Adeniyi Adeyemi and his collaborators so that we can unravel more facts and file criminal charges that can stand the test of time before a court of competent jurisdiction,” he said.
The PFIPC scandal became a public issue after the Presidency disowned the council, describing it as a non-existent government agency despite its appearance in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budgetary allocation of ₦1.3 billion.
The Federal Government has since filed criminal charges against Adeyemi over allegations including forgery, impersonation and fraudulent misrepresentation, while separate investigations by the House of Representatives and the ICPC are continuing into how the alleged fake agency operated within government institutions.
