…as Panel issues final ultimatum, demands explanation why alert was ignored
By Ime Silas and Sanni Abdullahi
ABUJA — The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating the alleged creation of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, PFIPC, without legal backing has summoned the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mr. Nuhu Ribadu and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to account for how the body allegedly operated despite early warnings over its legitimacy.
The committee, which is probing claims that PFIPC was set up and functioned without statutory approval, specifically asked the NSA to explain why his office did not halt the promoter of the council, Prince Adeniyi Matthew Adeyemi, after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs flagged the entity as questionable.
The summons was issued yesterday following the submission of a memorandum by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Dunoma Umar Ahmed.
In the memo, the ministry said it had no official dealings with PFIPC and had instead sought clarification from the Office of the National Security Adviser after detecting irregularities in correspondence linked to the council.
Appearing before the panel with a letter dated July 21, 2026, Ahmed told lawmakers that Prince Adeyemi presented himself as Director-General of both the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, PEAC/PFIPC.
According to the Permanent Secretary, Adeyemi approached the ministry on three separate occasions seeking collaboration and endorsement to organize a World Investment Summit in Nigeria.
The requests, the ministry said, were received on June 26, 2025, August 5, 2025, and June 5, 2026, but were not acted upon.
“Guided by extant rules and regulations as well as the necessity of carrying out due diligence before obliging any request, the ministry did not take any action on the requests,” the letter stated.
“The ministry’s refusal to oblige the requests was further necessitated by some of the discrepancies observed in the letters submitted by Prince Adeyemi and the ongoing investigation on the legitimacy of the PFIPC and the personality of its alleged Director-General,” it added.
NSA Wrote Back: ‘Unknown to Government’
The ministry further disclosed that it formally wrote to the Office of the National Security Adviser on October 16, 2025, seeking clarification on the status of Prince Adeyemi and the council he claimed to represent.
In a response dated November 26, 2025, the NSA said enquiries made with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President showed that “Prince Mathew Adeyemi is unknown to any office of the Federal Government.”
That response has now become central to the committee’s inquiry. Lawmakers want to know why, despite that clearance from the nation’s top security office confirming that the promoter was not recognized by government, PFIPC was allegedly allowed to continue projecting itself as a presidential initiative.
Committee members expressed concern that an entity flagged by the Foreign Affairs Ministry and later disowned in an NSA correspondence could still make approaches to government institutions months later, including the latest approach in June 2026.
Final Ultimatum to MDAs
In addition to summoning the NSA and the Foreign Affairs Minister, the ad-hoc committee issued a final ultimatum to several Ministries, Departments and Agencies said to have had dealings or correspondence with PFIPC. The affected MDAs have been directed to appear before the panel tomorrow.
The committee did not name the MDAs in open session, but said the appearance is mandatory as the investigation enters a critical phase.
The House had earlier set up the ad-hoc committee to determine whether PFIPC was established with presidential approval, what legal framework, if any, backed its operations, and the extent of its activities both within and outside the country.
The controversy around PFIPC beings attention to ongoing concerns about the use of presidential-sounding bodies to engage foreign investors and government institutions. The Foreign Affairs Ministry said its decision to hold back on the summit requests was based on standard due diligence and the need to verify the authority of anyone claiming to speak for the presidency.
The committee said it will review all correspondence, internal memos, and responses from security and government offices to establish who authorized PFIPC, who benefited from its activities, and why early red flags did not lead to immediate enforcement action.
With the NSA and the Foreign Affairs Minister now expected before the panel, and with MDAs given a final deadline, the House says it aims to close the gap on how an entity described as “unknown to government” was able to operate under the banner of the presidency for months.
The panel is expected to submit its findings and recommendations to the House for further legislative action.
