How ‘Phantom’ Council DG tricked me – Deputy Speaker Kalu

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has revealed that he unknowingly granted an audience to the self-styled Director-General of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), Adeniyi Adeyemi, after receiving what appeared to be an official correspondence bearing the Presidency’s letterhead.

Kalu made the disclosure on Wednesday during plenary while contributing to a motion seeking a comprehensive investigation into the activities of the alleged council, which has since been disowned by the Presidency.

Narrating his experience before lawmakers, the deputy speaker said his office received a letter dated May 2, 2025, introducing the sender as the Director-General of both the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the PFIPC.

According to him, the document appeared authentic because it carried the Presidency’s official insignia, listed an office address at the Federal Secretariat Complex in Abuja and included the government-style website, pfipc.gov.ng.

Kalu said the letter was convincing enough to warrant further verification, although some details initially raised concerns.

He explained that he directed members of his staff to investigate the organisation before any meeting was approved.

“My office received a letter dated May 2, 2025, on the letterhead of the Presidency, introducing the sender as the Director-General of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council and the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council,” Kalu said.

“The letter carried an address at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Abuja, and even had the website, pfipc.gov.ng. Naturally, it looked official.”

The deputy speaker said despite his reservations, his staff visited the address contained in the letter and confirmed that an office existed there.

“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.

Kalu said the delegation had requested the meeting on the premise that it wanted to discuss constitutional amendment, economic governance, legislative priorities and foreign investment.

However, he said the discussion took a different direction once the meeting commenced.

“They did not talk about the Constitution that we were amending. They were more interested in taking photographs,” he told lawmakers.

The deputy speaker said the experience exposed serious gaps in the process of verifying organisations claiming to represent the Federal Government.

He stressed that official-looking documents, office addresses and websites should no longer be accepted as sufficient proof 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 therefore urged members of the House to support the motion for a thorough investigation to uncover how the purported council operated, projected itself as a federal institution and allegedly gained public credibility.

The PFIPC has been at the centre of controversy after it surfaced as one of the beneficiaries in the 2026 Appropriation Act despite the Presidency maintaining that no such agency was ever created.

Following the revelations, President Bola Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the activities of the purported council, determine how it was included in the 2026 budget and identify all individuals involved in the alleged fraud.

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