Nigeria charges man with running fictitious government agency

A man walks past the National Assembly building in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. Nigeria's lawmakers on Thursday approved the new government's first supplemental budget, which includes huge allocations for SUVs and houses for the president, his wife and other public officials, sparking anger and criticism from citizens in one of the world's poorest countries. (AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu)

ABUJA -- A Nigerian man accused of illegally creating a government agency, installing himself as its boss and securing federal budget allocations for it was charged in court on Wednesday with forgery and impersonation, in a case that has exposed gaps in the checks governing the country’s public institutions.

Prosecutors allege that Adeniyi Adeyemi had since 2024 posed as director-general of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, or PFIPC, an agency the presidency says it neither established nor authorized him to lead.

The purported agency nevertheless obtained office space inside the federal secretariat, secured a roughly $1 million budget allocation this year, and tried to open accounts at the Central Bank of Nigeria, according to court filings. Several government institutions also processed its requests in the belief that it was legitimate.

The case has captivated Nigerians because of the sheer ambition of the alleged enterprise: a state agency that the government says did not exist appears to have negotiated several layers of state bureaucracy.

Dressed in a white kaftan and baseball cap, Adeyemi smiled and chatted with his lawyers before prosecutors read eight charges against him in court in the federal capital Abuja.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges and was sent to prison detention until his next scheduled court appearance on October 12.

For Nigeria, where corruption and weak oversight have long undermined public services and confidence in government, the case is seen reinforcing perceptions that official procedures can be bypassed with the right documents and claims of powerful connections.

Prosecutors have not accused any government officials of conspiring with Adeyemi, who was arrested in southwestern Osun state when a judge issued a warrant for him after he failed to appear in court five times.

Prosecutors accuse Adeyemi of forging an appointment letter purportedly issued by President Bola Tinubu and signed by his chief of staff, Femi Gbajabiamila.

Gbajabiamila could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

He had told a meeting in Lagos on September 26 that the police, Department of State Services and Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission had cleared him of wrongdoing.

Prosecutors say Adeyemi also used documents bearing presidential letterheads to request office space, staff deployments and cooperation from government agencies.

Adeyemi has denied wrongdoing in interviews with local media, saying that the PFIPC was genuine and that he personally approached budget officials to secure its inclusion in government spending plans.

Reporting by Camillus Eboh, writing by Ben Ezeamalu, Editing by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Bill Berkrot