The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Shehu Mohammed, on Thursday confirmed that President Bola Tinubu and key members of the Federal Executive Council were listed as members of the Governing Board on the website of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council/Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PEAC/PFIPC).
The Corps Marshal disclosed this while responding to inquiries on the procedures and processes required for the registration of government vehicles and the allocation of official number plates to government institutions. The session formed part of the ongoing investigation into the inclusion of the alleged phantom councils in the 2026 budget by the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee chaired by Yusuf Gagdi.
While examining the documents presented by the FRSC boss, Gagdi expressed concern over the Commission’s failure to question the authenticity of the councils while processing the application for official number plates for seven vehicles procured by Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi Mathew, who is currently in police custody.
He said: “We are trying to expose the leakages so that agencies can close these gaps going forward. It is not to indict anybody. Have you ever seen the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria being a member of organisations? Have you ever seen President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appearing as a board member of any institution of government?
“But you saw it in your document that you submitted to us. You saw a mandate that did not have a letterhead or any security features of government. You equally saw the President as the Board Chairman; the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as a board member; the Director-General as a board member; the Head of the Civil Service as a board member; the Governor of the CBN as a board member; the Minister of Finance as a board member; the Minister of Aviation as a board member; the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security as a board member; the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, as a board member; the Minister of Interior as a board member; the Attorney General of the Federation as a board member; the Minister of Budget and National Planning as a board member; the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy as a board member; the Minister of Police Affairs as a board member; the Minister of Transport as a board member; the Minister of Works as a board member; and the Minister of Power as a board member.
“Do these three things — a mandate with no security features, the vision and mission statement, and the composition of the board with Mr President as a member — look normal to you? I need a yes or no answer from you.”
Responding, the FRSC Corps Marshal answered in the negative, saying: “No.”
Mohammed had earlier confirmed that, after conducting what it considered due diligence and receiving payment of the statutory fees into the Federal Government Treasury through the REMITA platform, the Commission produced registration numbers and official number plates for seven newly procured vehicles for PFIPC in response to a second letter dated April 11, 2025, instead of the five vehicles listed in the first request dated April 4, 2025.
He said: “It is important to note that the requests were made using what appeared to be the official letterhead of a Federal Government agency.
“As part of the verification process, the requests were personally delivered to the FRSC Headquarters by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, who presented himself as the Director-General of the agency. In addition, the Corps visited the official website indicated in the correspondence. The website bore a Federal Government domain and contained information consistent with that of a legitimate Federal Government institution, including the names of prominent public office holders as members of its Governing Board.”
According to him, “both letters were accompanied by what purported to be the agency’s establishment documents, mandate, and the list of vehicles requiring registration.”
Mohammed explained that the Commission only requested the chassis numbers of vehicles from government agencies, unlike private vehicle registrations, which require the names of owners and other supporting documents.
Although Mohammed had earlier stated, “In the case of the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, the Corps exercised even greater caution because the request originated from what was presented as a newly established Federal Government agency,” he later admitted: “This is an isolated case where we did not carry out sufficient due diligence. That is why we are strengthening our internal mechanisms.”
According to the FRSC document submitted to the Ad-hoc Committee, the seven vehicles approved for registration were: a black 2024 Lexus LX bulletproof armoured vehicle (Chassis No. JPJPB7CX4P4036316); a black 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado Twin Turbo (Chassis No. JTEAACAJ2RK005532); a black 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser Twin Turbo (Chassis No. JTEAA9AJ0055000737); a black 2024 Toyota Hilux GR (Chassis No. MROBUBCD0131583); a white 2024 Toyota Hilux Adventure (Chassis No. MROBUBCD7R0133184); a black 2024 Toyota Hilux Adventure (Chassis No. MROBUBCDB50133764); and a grey 2024 Toyota Hilux Adventure (Chassis No. MROBU8CD2P0128326).
He maintained that the chassis numbers of all the vehicles were verified and confirmed to correspond with the respective vehicles presented for registration before the number plates were issued. He stressed that the allocation of the official Federal Government vehicle number plates was carried out strictly in accordance with the Corps’ established procedures after all reasonable verification and due diligence had been undertaken.
“It therefore came as a profound shock to the Corps when it subsequently emerged that the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council was not an approved Federal Government agency and that the representations made by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi were false. The Corps commends the relevant law enforcement and investigative agencies for their prompt intervention in addressing the matter.
“The FRSC has equally commenced immediate administrative processes to retrieve all the official Federal Government vehicle number plates allocated to the purported agency and has strengthened its internal verification mechanisms to prevent any recurrence of such deception,” the Corps Marshal said.
Speaking earlier, the Permanent Secretary (Administration), State House, represented by the Director of Administration, Abdulkadir Idris, explained that all the letters allegedly issued by the State House and signed by one Akanbi Adewale to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), seeking the creation of a budget code for the PFIFC, were forged.
He disclosed that Mrs Funke Osunkoya was the Permanent Secretary (Administration), State House, during the period under review but has since retired from the civil service. He added that the Nigeria Police National Cybercrime Centre, on July 6, 2026, requested the names of all Permanent Secretaries (Administration) who had served between 2003 and the present, and none bore the name Akanbi Adewale, who signed as Permanent Secretary, Administration and Support Services, State House.
While stressing that the current Permanent Secretary (Administration), Mrs Temitope Peter Fashedemi, had no knowledge of the PFIFC until the matter surfaced in the media, Idris maintained: “We did not send any correspondence or request to the Office of the Accountant-General for this council. We do not even know anything about this council. We never heard about this council until we started seeing it in the media.”
Arguing that the letterheads used by Prince Adeyemi were different from official State House stationery, Idris said: “If you look at those letters, you will see there is a great difference between the letterhead we use and the one they used. The forged letterhead even carried a telephone number, which official State House letterheads do not have.”
He also faulted the heads of the various MDAs that processed the documents without first verifying their authenticity, saying: “Those offices received the letters. They should have carried out due diligence. If they could not write to us for confirmation, they should at least have called. They did not.”
He noted that the Permanent Secretary (Administration) is responsible for the administration of the State House and the provision of services to the President and Vice President, while the institution prepares budgets only for the State House and agencies under it.
Responding to a question on the document purportedly conveying appointments into the councils from the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, Idris explained that appointments of political office holders from the Presidency are processed through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
In his ruling, Gagdi announced that the investigation would continue on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, with all the government agencies involved in the matter expected to appear before the panel.
He said the session would likely be the committee’s final public hearing, after which lawmakers would begin compiling their findings and recommendations.
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