Reps Panel: Adeyemi Listed Tinubu, Wike, Akume, Cardoso as PFIPC Board Members

The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the activities of the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) has revealed that the organisation listed President Bola Tinubu and several top government officials as members of its governing board.

The disclosure was made on Thursday by the committee chairman, Yusuf Gagdi, during an investigative hearing where lawmakers questioned the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Shehu Mohammed, over the issuance of seven official vehicle number plates to the council despite concerns about the authenticity of its registration documents.

According to Gagdi, the PFIPC’s documents named President Tinubu, Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and several serving ministers as members of its board.

The committee chairman said such an extraordinary list should have prompted the FRSC to independently verify the documents with the Presidency and other relevant government institutions before approving the request.

He also noted that the documents presented by the organisation lacked recognised government security features, yet they were accepted during the verification process.

“We are trying to expose the leakages so that agencies can close these gaps going forward. It is not to indict anybody,” Gagdi said.

Responding to lawmakers, Mohammed maintained that the FRSC followed its standard operating procedures before approving the number plates.

He explained that the corps received the council’s application in April 2025, accompanied by documents outlining its purported legal status, mandate, governing structure and details of the vehicles requiring official registration.

Mohammed added that FRSC officials examined the council’s website, which carried a federal government domain name, and physically visited its office at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja.

According to him, the website and office location created the impression that the organisation was a legitimate government agency.

He said officials also verified the vehicles’ chassis numbers before approving the allocation of the official number plates.

The Corps Marshal admitted that the FRSC only later discovered that the PFIPC had no legal backing as a federal government agency.

He disclosed that the corps has begun retrieving all official number plates issued to the organisation and has strengthened its verification procedures to prevent similar incidents in future.

The hearing comes after the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) recommended the prosecution of Adeniyi Adeyemi, the alleged operator of the PFIPC.

The anti-corruption agency also cleared the Presidency and the Central Bank of Nigeria of wrongdoing but blamed institutional lapses in several ministries, departments and agencies that enabled the alleged fraud to occur.