morganable news/crime&Courts
Adeyemi, who is the first defendant, is facing allegations of forgery, use of forged documents, personation of a public servant, obtaining money by false pretences and giving gratification to public officers.
KaNo —
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has expanded its prosecution of the alleged Director-General of the purported Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, filing additional charges against four serving civil servants over their alleged roles in a corruption scandal involving government offices, official vehicles and recruitment approvals.
The four public officers were joined as co-defendants in an amended 36-count charge filed before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The commission accused them of receiving gratification from Adeyemi to facilitate the operations of what it described as a “fake/non-existing agency”.
The newly joined defendants are Aminu Abdullahi, an Assistant Chief Technical Officer at the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Ogaba Harry, a Chief Accountant in the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President; Florence Omameh, an officer in the Inspectorate Department of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation; and Patricia Akhigbe, an Assistant Director in the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
Adeyemi, who is the first defendant, is facing allegations of forgery, use of forged documents, personation of a public servant, obtaining money by false pretences and giving gratification to public officers.
In Counts 23 and 24 of the amended charge, marked CR/415/26, the ICPC alleged that Abdullahi received N4.002m in four instalments through his bank accounts in exchange for allocating government offices to Adeyemi at the Federal Secretariat Complex, Phase III, Abuja.
According to the commission, the payments were made to facilitate the allocation of the offices and the forcible opening of the premises for Adeyemi’s use without the approval of the Permanent Secretary or the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Harry was accused in Count 26 of receiving N560,000 in six instalments between February 2025 and April 2026 for granting Adeyemi access to offices previously occupied by the defunct Presidential Economic Advisory Council.
The commission further alleged that Harry released two government-owned vehicles, a Prado Jeep and a Land Cruiser Jeep, to Adeyemi without official authorisation.
In another count, Omameh was accused of receiving N250,000 in three instalments into her bank account following an inspection she conducted at the purported council’s premises on March 25, 2025.
The ICPC alleged that the payment was made in connection with the inspection carried out to facilitate the granting of provisional self-accounting status to the organisation.
Akhigbe, on her part, faces three counts bordering on alleged receipt of gratification, personation and criminal conspiracy.
In Count 30, the commission accused her of receiving N1.1m in four instalments to facilitate the processing of an establishment and recruitment waiver for the purported council and the submission of its documents to the Budget Office of the Federation for inclusion in the 2026 Appropriation.
The commission further alleged in Count 31 that Akhigbe falsely presented herself as the Head of Human Resources of the council despite the fact that her secondment had not been approved by her ministry.
In Count 32, she and Adeyemi were jointly accused of conspiring to use forged documents to obtain an establishment and recruitment waiver for the purported agency.
The prosecution, in its proof of evidence, said its witnesses would explain how the second to fifth defendants allegedly received gratification from Adeyemi to facilitate his access to government offices and official vehicles, secure provisional self-accounting status, obtain recruitment approval and ensure the organisation’s inclusion in the 2026 Appropriation.
On the alleged occupation of government offices, the commission said a witness would testify that no office space had ever been allocated to the purported Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council in any of the Federal Secretariat complexes.
Another witness was expected to tell the court that he witnessed Abdullahi forcibly entering and changing the locks of eight offices belonging to the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President in 2025 to enable Adeyemi to occupy them.
Regarding Harry’s alleged involvement, the prosecution said a witness would testify that he had custody of the keys to the offices and the two official vehicles but was never authorised to hand them over to Adeyemi.
The prosecution also provided details of the circumstances surrounding the alleged payment to Omameh.
According to the evidence, Omameh and a prosecution witness inspected the purported council’s premises on March 25, 2025, and discovered that only five of the 39 staff members listed on its nominal roll had Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System numbers.
The witness was expected to testify that Adeyemi subsequently offered them money, collected his account details and transferred N50,000 to him.
The ICPC said the purported council was eventually granted provisional self-accounting status on May 27, 2025, based on the inspection report.
On Akhigbe, the prosecution said a witness from the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning would testify that her secondment or posting to the purported council was never approved by the ministry.
Another witness was expected to identify her as one of the organisation’s representatives who appeared at the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and presented her as its Head of Human Resources.
The commission further alleged that the purported agency was included in the authorised establishment approved on July 18, 2025, and subsequently obtained a recruitment waiver.
Meanwhile, Adeyemi was separately accused of giving N700,000 in gratification to Ibrahim Abdulkadir, a Deputy Director in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Abdulkadir, however, is listed as a prosecution witness and not among the defendants in the amended charge.
The commission listed 43 witnesses it intends to call during the trial, including the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
It also listed the defendants’ statements made under caution and bank records among the documents it intends to tender as exhibits to establish its allegations.
The amended charge represents an expansion of the ICPC‘s case, bringing four serving public officers into the prosecution over alleged assistance provided to an organisation the commission maintains was not legally established.
The allegations raise questions about the procedures governing the allocation of government properties, the custody and release of official vehicles, the approval of civil servants’ secondments and the process for granting establishment and recruitment waivers to government agencies.
However, the charge sheet did not indicate a date for the arraignment of the newly joined defendants or record their pleas.
The defendants have yet to be convicted of the allegations and are presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.
