Nigeria’s anti-corruption commission has formally cleared the country’s presidential chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, of any involvement in a scandal involving a fake federal agency that operated for months under a fabricated government mandate.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigeria’s main anti-graft body, concluded that Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, who presented himself as director-general of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), personally forged the documents used to establish the agency’s legitimacy, according to Premium Times Nigeria.
Forged letterhead, mismatched signature
Investigators examined an appointment letter dated March 2024, purportedly issued on official State House letterhead, that named Adeyemi as head of the council and carried what appeared to be Gbajabiamila’s signature. Forensic analysis found the signature did not match his specimen signature on file, the ICPC said. A separate letter used to request an administrative code from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation was also found to be forged.
The appointment letter presented by Adeyemi was completely forged alongside similar documents used to perpetuate the illegal activities of the fake agency.
The commission said it found no evidence connecting Gbajabiamila, the Office of the Chief of Staff, or the State House to Adeyemi, the PFIPC, or anyone acting on the council’s behalf. Gbajabiamila had previously denied writing, authorising or signing any documents tied to the council, and appeared before ICPC investigators in July to answer questions as part of the probe.
A pattern of fake agencies
The investigation, which Tinubu ordered directly, found that Adeyemi was also linked to two other fabricated bodies: the FCT Investment Promotion Agency and the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and Public Private Partnership. An earlier interim ICPC report had already flagged these as part of the same scheme. The commission further alleged that the PFIPC had unlawfully used the identity and office facilities of the genuine former Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
According to one account cited in Nigerian reporting, the fraud came to light after officials at the legitimate Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission complained that a parallel organisation appeared to be operating at cross-purposes with their work. Adeyemi was eventually arrested at his office in the Federal Secretariat in October 2025, after Gbajabiamila petitioned police and the Department of State Services alleging forgery of his signature and official seals. He was later arrested again in Osun State after weeks evading a Federal High Court warrant, having skipped a hearing on forgery and impersonation charges.
The ICPC has recommended Adeyemi’s prosecution and identified verification failures across multiple ministries, departments and agencies that allowed his fabricated documents to be acted upon without adequate checks. In a related development, Tinubu suspended three permanent secretaries after a further bogus body, the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Council, was discovered operating within the government.
The case has drawn attention as one of the more elaborate impersonation schemes to surface within Nigeria’s federal bureaucracy in recent years, raising questions about how fabricated agencies were able to secure administrative recognition, including a government code from the Accountant-General’s office, before the fraud was detected.
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