Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has admitted that he granted a meeting to representatives of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) after their correspondence convincingly mimicked official Presidency communications. Kalu made the disclosure on Wednesday, July 8, during plenary, while contributing to a motion calling for a full investigation into the activities of the purported council, which the Presidency has since disowned.
How the Deception Unfolded
Addressing his fellow lawmakers, Kalu said his office received a letter on May 2, 2025, in which the sender identified as the Director-General of both the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the PFIPC. The document bore the Presidency's official insignia, listed a physical office address at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja, and cited a government-formatted website, pfipc.gov.ng. 'The letter carried an address at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Abuja, and even had the website, pfipc.gov.ng. Naturally, it looked official,' Kalu told the House.
Despite harbouring some initial doubts, Kalu said he directed members of his staff to physically verify the office before any meeting was approved. His team visited the listed address and confirmed that an office existed there, which ultimately satisfied his concerns. 'Although I had some doubts, I asked my staff to verify the office before I agreed to the meeting. They went there and confirmed that the office actually existed. Based on that confirmation, I received them,' he said.
Meeting Agenda and Suspicious Behavior
The delegation had requested the meeting on the grounds of discussing constitutional amendment, economic governance, legislative priorities, and foreign investment. However, once seated, their behaviour departed sharply from the stated agenda. 'They did not talk about the Constitution that we were amending. They were more interested in taking photographs,' Kalu told lawmakers.
This raised further suspicion among Kalu's team, but by then the meeting had already taken place. The incident exposed serious weaknesses in how organisations claiming federal government affiliations are screened, according to the deputy speaker.
Call for Stricter Verification
Kalu warned that official-looking letterheads, physical offices, and government-formatted websites can no longer be treated as reliable indicators of legitimacy. 'This incident shows that we can no longer rely on official-looking letterheads or office addresses as proof that an organisation is genuinely a government agency,' he said. He urged the House to back the motion and support a thorough probe into how the PFIPC managed to operate as a federal institution, gain public credibility, and ultimately secure inclusion in the 2026 Appropriation Act, despite the Presidency insisting no such agency was ever established.
Presidential Directive and Wider Scrutiny
Following the public outcry, President Bola Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the PFIPC's activities, establish how it was inserted into the 2026 budget, and identify all persons connected to the alleged fraud. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar dismissed President Tinubu's decision, stating that the move falls far short of genuine transparency and only deepens contradictions within the Presidency's own account of events.
The scandal has sparked widespread debate about the ease with which fake agencies can operate under the guise of government authority, prompting calls for more robust verification mechanisms across all arms of government.
