Nigerian Deputy Speaker Opens Up On How 'Fake Agency' DG Tricked Him "It Carried Presidency Seal"
- Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu disclosed that his office received a letter dated May 2, 2025, bearing the Presidency's official letterhead and insignia from the PFIPC
- Kalu said his staff physically visited and confirmed an office at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja before he agreed to meet the delegation
- The PFIPC delegation avoided discussing constitutional amendments and focused mainly on taking photographs, raising further suspicion
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.
Source: Facebook
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.
How Kalu's office was deceived
Despite harbouring some initial doubts, Kalu said he directed members of his staff to physically verify the office before any meeting was approved, Daily Trust reported.
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.
The delegation had requested the meeting on the grounds of discussing constitutional amendment, economic governance, legislative priorities, and foreign investment.
, 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.
Kalu urges stricter berification
The deputy speaker said the episode exposed serious weaknesses in how organisations claiming federal government affiliations are screened, Vanguard reported.
He 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.
Kalu 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.
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.
PFIPC scandal: Atiku faults Tinubu's ICPC probe
Previously, Legit.ng reported that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar dismissed President Bola Tinubu's decision to direct the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal.
According to him, the move falls far short of genuine transparency and only deepens contradictions within the Presidency's own account of events.
Source: Legit.ng
