The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) has discovered documents that allegedly listed President Bola Tinubu and several senior government officials as members of the organisation’s governing board.
The committee’s chairman, Yusuf Gagdi, revealed this on Thursday during an investigative hearing where lawmakers questioned Shehu Mohammed, Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety, over the issuance of seven vehicle number plates to the PFIPC.
The legislators were particularly worried about why the FRSC accepted the number plates despite evident anomalies in the organisation’s records.
According to Gagdi, the purported PFIPC governing board included Tinubu, George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the ministers of finance, aviation, agriculture and food security, interior, budget and national planning, marine and blue economy, police affairs, and transportation.
According to the committee chairman, the FRSC should have enquired about a paper supposedly naming the president and members of his cabinet to the council’s governing board.
He also questioned the organisation’s apparent mandate, which lacked formal government security elements.
“We are trying to expose the leakages so that agencies can close these gaps going forward. It is not to indict anybody,” Gagdi said.
He said that the unique makeup of the supposed governing board, together with the nature of the documents supplied, should have caused the FRSC to independently check the organisation’s existence with the Presidency and other relevant government entities before allowing its request.
Mohammed defended the FRSC’s conduct, telling the committee that the agency adhered to its regular operating protocols throughout the application and verification process.
The Corps Marshal stated that the FRSC received the PFIPC’s application on April 4, 2025, followed by a reminder on April 11. Both documents were signed by Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi.
He said the application included documentation establishing the council, explaining its mandate and governing structure, as well as information about the vehicles for which official number plates were sought.
According to Mohammed, FRSC officers visited the organisation’s office at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja and verified its website, which was hosted by the federal government.
According to him, the website and actual office gave the impression that the PFIPC was a legitimate federal government organisation.
He stated that the FRSC also confirmed the vehicles’ chassis numbers before authorising the number plates.
Mohammed stated that the agency was astonished to realise that the PFIPC was not an authorised federal government agency.
He stated that the FRSC has now begun recovering all official number plates issued to the organisation and has enhanced its verification procedures to avoid a similar situation from happening again.
The development comes after the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) recommended that Adeniyi, the man suspected of operating the PFIPC, be prosecuted.
Adeniyi alleged that his appointment letter was sent by President Tinubu’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila. Gbajabiamila, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, refuted the allegations.
The ICPC cleared the Tinubu and the Central Bank of Nigeria of wrongdoing but found institutional flaws in other ministries, departments, and organisations.
Among those cited were the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Head of the Federation’s Civil Service, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Budget Office, and the National Information Technology Development Agency.
