Head of Service Denies Giving Office Space to Fake PFIPC as Evidence of Signage and Arrest at Federal Secretariat Surfaces

The Head of Service of the Federation, Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has strongly denied allocating office space or deploying any staff to the fraudulent Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, even as mounting evidence confirms that the fake agency not only occupied a physical office at the Federal Secretariat but also mounted its signage and received a whopping ₦1.32 billion in the 2026 budget. Appearing before the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the scandal, Walson-Jack insisted that her office never approved any physical space for the PFIPC, clarifying that the approvals she granted were strictly limited to establishment and provisional recruitment waivers, which she now admits were based on fake documents presented by the agency's representatives. She conceded that her office failed to carry out proper due diligence, allowing the fraudulent entity to obtain key authorisations, but she maintained that the office space in question actually belonged to the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and was allocated as far back as November 16, 2023, long before the PFIPC emerged. 

However, investigators have uncovered irrefutable physical evidence that contradicts her denial, including the agency's signboard still mounted at Phase III of the Federal Secretariat in Abuja as recently as July 6, 2026, and police records confirming that the alleged mastermind, Adeniyi Adeyemi, was arrested right at that very office on October 27, 2025. Further probing revealed that the fake council operated for about two years without detection, successfully securing a provisional waiver to recruit 314 staff and maintaining two accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria, all while occupying the federal facility. 

The Head of Service argued that the space was not given to the PFIPC by her office but was simply part of the OSGF's allocated premises, yet questions remain over how the fraudulent agency gained physical access, installed its branding, and conducted operations for such an extended period without official oversight. Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu has ordered a full-scale probe into the scandal, with the ICPC also investigating, while the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, has denied accusations by the suspect that he issued the fake appointment letter and has since filed a lawsuit. As the House committee continues its hearings, the glaring contradiction between the Head of Service's categorical denial and the overwhelming physical evidence of the agency's presence at the Federal Secretariat has only deepened public outrage and raised urgent questions about how such an elaborate fraud could flourish under the nose of government bureaucracy.

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