We Approved ‘Phantom’ Council Without Due Diligence – HoS

The Head of the Civil Service (HoS) of the Federation, Mrs Esther Didi Walson-Jack, has admitted before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged illegal creation of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) and the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) that her office failed to carry out adequate due diligence before approving requests from the purported agency.

The committee also said it uncovered what it described as a network of fake documents allegedly used to secure government approvals, including recruitment waivers and administrative processes.

Appearing before the committee on Wednesday, Walson-Jack acknowledged that her office relied on documents later discovered to be fake when granting an authorised establishment and recruitment waiver to the agency.

“We now, having seen all the facts and observed all the documents, concede that we ought to have carried out more due diligence in discharge of the duties of the office in issuing an authorised establishment and a recruitment waiver to the PEAC/PFIPC,” she said.

She explained that officials of the purported agency appeared before her office during the 2025 Annual Manpower Budget Defence, presenting themselves as representatives of a newly established federal agency. According to her, they submitted what appeared to be an Establishment Act and a letter appointing a Director-General.

The HoS said newly created agencies seeking recruitment approval are required to present an enabling Act, the appointment letter of the chief executive and other supporting documents before an authorised establishment and provisional recruitment waiver are granted.

According to her, the office processed the request based on the documents presented.

“In over almost a century of the Federal Civil Service, we have never encountered a situation like the current one. Criminals always try to be a step ahead of law enforcement,” she said.

Under questioning, Walson-Jack admitted that the Establishment Act submitted by the purported agency was not authentic.

“I requested to see the documents myself and I saw that the Establishment Act was not really an authentic Act. I have almost 30 years of legal practice experience and immediately I saw it, I knew it was not,” she said.

She also said she observed differences between the signatures on the appointment letter purportedly issued by the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President and genuine official correspondence.

“I’m not a forensic expert, but I can clearly see that the signatures are not the same,” she stated.

The committee chairman disclosed that forensic analysis conducted by the Nigeria Police confirmed the signatures were entirely different.

“The police forensic department has already analysed the signatures and confirmed that those signatures are not the same. In fact, according to them, there was not even an attempt to imitate the signature,” the chairman said.

He added that investigations established that both the appointment letter and the purported Establishment Act were fake.

“You have clearly stated that you acted on false documents. You have now established, just like we have, that the letter of appointment of the so-called DG is not only forged, it is fake.

“If something is forged, there will be an attempt to imitate the signature. But in this case, the signatures are completely different. So I will not call it forged; I will say it is fake,” the chairman declared.

The committee also alleged that the purported Establishment Act lacked the mandatory features of a valid Act of the National Assembly.

“Our Acts have citation numbers, Supreme Court numbers, Gazette numbers and Gazette titles. The Act presented here has none of those features,” the chairman said.

Despite admitting lapses, Walson-Jack insisted her office acted in line with established procedures based on the documents submitted.

“Everything was done in accordance with the practice in the office. Out of the 88 ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, processed, we are really surprised that we were unable to detect that PEAC/PFIPC had actually given us a false Establishment Act and what has now been proved to be a false letter of appointment,” she said.

She also pledged to strengthen internal processes to prevent a recurrence.

“We take full responsibility and we will definitely review our processes to make them more fraud-proof,” she added.

The committee also questioned officials from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation over the issuance of an administrative code to the purported agency.

A former Director of Consolidation Account and Director of Federal Projects, Mr Joshua Patmi Luka, said his office received what appeared to be an official request from the State House for an administrative code.

“As part of our due diligence, what we did was to convey the administrative code to the Permanent Secretary, State House, and not to the so-called agency. The idea was that if it was not genuine, the whole thing would be unravelled,” he said.

However, the committee faulted the process after evidence allegedly showed that the response was never delivered to the Permanent Secretary but was instead collected by the alleged fake Director-General.

The chairman further stated that investigations revealed the Directorate of Administration and Support Services referenced in the correspondence did not exist within the State House.

“There is no Directorate of Administration and Support Services in the State House. That office does not exist,” he said.

He accused officials of allowing the suspect to intercept official correspondence addressed to the Permanent Secretary.

“You allowed the fraudulent D-G to come and pick the letter from your office instead of allowing someone from the Permanent Secretary’s office to receive it. If the letter had reached the Permanent Secretary, the fraud would have been unravelled immediately,” he said.

Responding, Luka maintained that the failure was the responsibility of an individual officer rather than an institutional lapse.

“The problem here was not an office lapse, it was an individual lapse. Somebody was supposed to deliver that letter to the Permanent Secretary, State House, and it was not delivered there,” he said.

The committee maintained that its investigation had uncovered a coordinated use of fake appointment letters, fabricated legislative documents and fictitious State House offices to obtain official approvals and gain access to government budgetary processes.

It said its final report would contain its findings and recommendations after the investigation is concluded.

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police at the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre, Olufemi Akinola, told the committee that the alleged Director-General of the purported agency, Prince Adeniyi Matthew Adeyemi, could not be produced because he remained in lawful custody under a subsisting court order.

The committee had earlier directed the police to produce Adeyemi before it.

The police, however, assured lawmakers of their continued cooperation but said producing the suspect would require an order from a court of competent jurisdiction.

“The Nigerian Police Force may not be able to produce a suspect as requested… in view of the subsisting warrant. The Nigerian Police Force has one of the constitutional oversight powers of the National Assembly and remains committed to cooperate with the committee in the discharge of its mandate.

“However, in this case, it will be appreciated if the reproduction warrant could be sought from the court of competent jurisdiction to enable police comply with this request,” Akinola said.

The hearing was marked by tense exchanges between members of the committee and senior government officials, with the committee chairman frequently interrupting witnesses during questioning.

The committee said it would conclude the clarification stage of its investigation before presenting preliminary findings to the public next week, ahead of submitting its final report to the House of Representatives after the National Assembly resumes from recess.