The House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee investigating the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) has established preliminary evidence of financial and criminal activities allegedly linked to its detained Director-General, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, while uncovering a network of additional organisations and bank accounts.
Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, disclosed this while presenting the panel’s preliminary findings on the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the inclusion of the purported organisation in the Federal Budget Framework to Parliamentary Correspondents in Abuja.
Hon. Gagdi said the Committee’s findings indicated that the PFIPC was never lawfully established, as it found no Act of the National Assembly, gazetted enactment, Presidential Executive Order or other lawful instrument creating the Council.
While noting that the documentary materials used to project its existence and authority contain substantial evidence of fabrication, forgery, mutilation, impersonation and unauthorised representation of institutions and public officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Ad-hoc Committee urged relevant government agencies to ensure that ‘no appropriation, administrative code, warrant, cash backing, financial release or governmental facility should be processed in favour of the purported organisation.’
The Ad-hoc Committee also tasked all relevant financial institutions and investigative agencies to preserve all account records, transaction histories, mandates and beneficial ownership information relating to the persons and entities under investigation.
The Committee therefore considers the allegations sufficiently serious to require the prompt conclusion of criminal and financial investigations. Where sufficient admissible evidence is established, the appropriate agencies should institute criminal proceedings before courts of competent jurisdiction and pursue all lawful measures for the tracing, preservation, freezing and recovery of proceeds or assets derived from established unlawful conduct.
However, the Ad-hoc Committee stressed that its findings were preliminary and did not amount to a final determination of criminal guilt, which remains the constitutional responsibility of courts of competent jurisdiction.
According to the panel, preliminary financial and investigative evidence has linked Adeyemi to a network of approximately 58 bank accounts and more than 30 accounts apparently operated in the names of about nine agencies, companies, foundations or related entities.
According to him, information received from financial and investigative institutions indicates that the Bank Verification Number and other identifying details associated with Prince Adeyemi were linked to a substantial network of personal, corporate, organisational and foundation accounts.
The 12 agencies linked to him are Confederation of United Nations Youths; FCT Investment Promotion Agency and Public-Private Partnership; FCT Investment Promotion Council and Public-Private Partnership; Foreign Investment Promotion Agency; United Nations Youth Global Agency; United Nations Youth Global Foundation; World United Nations Youth Global Foundation; World Entrepreneurship University Limited; World Enterprise University Limited; FCT Investment Promotion Act; FCT Promotion Agency; and Olubadan of Ibadan Foundation.
While noting that the Committee has not concluded that every identified account, entity or transaction was unlawful, the lawmaker explained that the Ad-hoc Committee is reconciling registration records, account mandates, beneficial ownership information, signatories and transaction histories to determine the true nature and control of the identified entities and accounts.
Hon. Gagdi said the similarities in the nomenclature, objectives, management structures, signatories and banking relationships of the entities raised concerns over a possible pattern of establishing or deploying organisations to create artificial credibility, solicit funds, obtain official recognition or induce members of the public to part with money.
Of particular concern to the Committee is an alleged N400 million transaction involving a company which claimed that Adeyemi induced it to make payments in four instalments after representing that it would secure a contract for the renovation, furnishing or improvement of a purported official residence allocated to him in his claimed capacity as PFIPC Director-General.
The Ad-hoc Committee said it was tracing the destinations of the funds, identifying account holders and beneficial owners and determining whether any public officer or other individual participated in, facilitated or benefited from the alleged transaction.
Hon. Gagdi said that if established through competent investigative and judicial processes, the allegations could disclose offences including fraudulent misrepresentation, obtaining money by false pretence, impersonation, conspiracy, forgery and offences relating to the concealment or movement of proceeds of crime.
The Ad-hoc Committee also found evidence of alleged fabrication of official documents, including a purported presidential appointment letter for Adeyemi, a purported Executive Order and a document presented as an Act of the National Assembly establishing the organisation.
Evidence from the State House, according to Hon. Gagdi, established that the purported appointment letter was neither issued nor signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, while the letterhead and reference number were also inconsistent with official State House correspondence.
The Ad-hoc Committee consequently exonerated Hon. Gbajabiamila from allegations of authorising, establishing or participating in the activities of the purported Council(s), commending him for what it described as timely interventions after alerts concerning the organisation were brought to his attention.
‘The documentary evidence presently before the Committee does not establish that the Chief of Staff authorised, approved, established or participated in the activities of the purported organisation,’ Hon. Gagdi said.
Rather, he said, evidence showed that Gbajabiamila had promptly communicated with relevant security and investigative agencies, including Nigeria Police Force, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Department of State Services (DSS) as well as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), following alerts concerning the activities of the purported organisation.
The Ad-hoc Committee also exonerated the National Assembly Committees responsible for budget scrutiny from culpability, with its findings indicating that the focus of the investigation should instead be on how an unestablished entity was able to secure apparent recognition and budgetary treatment within the Federal Government’s administrative machinery.
Hon. Gagdi said the investigation had exposed serious institutional weaknesses in the verification of the legal existence of government agencies, creation of administrative and budget codes, authentication of official correspondence, allocation of government accommodation and processing of official-looking vehicle number plates.
He argued that the purported Council was able to reinforce its claim to governmental legitimacy by occupying office accommodation within the Federal Secretariat Complex, operating a website that portrayed it as a federal institution and allegedly using the names, offices and photographs of President Bola Tinubu and other senior government officials without their authorisation.
The Committee further found that approximately 39 persons were represented as employees of the purported organisation and is investigating their recruitment, appointment letters, identity cards, remuneration and allegations that some persons were required to make payments as a condition for employment.
It also commended the Nigeria Police Force, DSS, EFCC, ICPC and ONSA for their contributions to tracing the fabricated documents, associated entities, financial accounts and transactions, urging the agencies to conclude their investigations and prosecute anyone against whom sufficient admissible evidence is established.
Among the Ad-hoc Committee’s preliminary recommendations is that all Ministries, Departments and Agencies should immediately refrain from recognising, transacting with or extending government privileges to the PFIPC or any related manifestation whose legal status has not been independently verified.
The Ad-hoc Committee also recommended that no appropriation, administrative code, warrant, cash backing, financial release or government facility should be processed in favour of the purported organisation, while all relevant financial, documentary and electronic evidence should be preserved.
The lawmakers further recommended enhanced authentication procedures for new institutions, administrative and budget codes, as well as correspondence purportedly emanating from the Presidency and other high offices of government.
The Ad-hoc Committee proposed the establishment or strengthening of a secure, centralised digital verification platform through which the lawful existence, establishing instrument and status of every Federal Government institution could be independently authenticated.
The Ad-hoc Committee also recommended that the alleged N400 million transaction be subjected to a separate and comprehensive investigation and that lawful measures be taken to trace, preserve, freeze and recover proceeds of any established unlawful activity, subject to judicial authorisation where required.
Hon. Gagdi said the Committee would continue to investigate the ownership and control of the identified accounts, the alleged N400 million transaction, the purported official residence, special number plates, unauthorised occupation of government accommodation and the roles of public officers and private individuals connected with the matter.
He said outstanding evidence would also be obtained from institutions and public officers who had yet to fully comply with the Committee’s requests, adding that affected officers would be given a fair hearing before definitive findings were made.
The Ad-hoc Committee Chairman assured that the final report would be submitted to the House of Representatives upon the lawmakers’ resumption from their two-month annual recess, when the House would have the constitutional prerogative to consider, debate, adopt, amend or reject the findings and recommendations.
He maintained that the investigation was not merely about exposing a purported agency or identifying an alleged mastermind, but about protecting the integrity of Nigeria’s institutions and preventing private individuals from manufacturing governmental authority.
While stressing that the ‘Presidency cannot be impersonated with impunity,’ Hon. Gagdi posited that the identity, authority and instruments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could not be appropriated by private individuals or organisations for personal advantage.
He therefore assured that the final report would contain definitive findings, identified institutional and individual responsibilities and recommendations for appropriate legislative, administrative, disciplinary, civil, financial and prosecutorial action, subject to the decision of the House and due process of law.