A regional pressure group, the North Central Progressives Forum (NCPF), has publicly expressed strong disappointment with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume, over his office’s alleged involvement in the controversy surrounding a bogus body operating under the name “Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council.”
In a statement made available to journalists in Lafia and signed by NCPF President Yunusa Usman, the group said disclosures in a Saturday Punch report showing that the SGF’s office processed correspondence from the fake council are an embarrassment to Benue State and the entire North Central region.
According to the report cited by the forum, “documents reveal that the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation received, acknowledged and acted on correspondence submitted in the council’s name months before the Presidency publicly disowned it.” The documents reportedly show that the SGF’s office forwarded a request by the self‑styled Director-General of the phantom council, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, seeking office accommodation in recovered federal government properties — a request routed through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The NCPF said it was especially troubled by the implications of the SGF’s involvement because the office is intended to be the bureaucratic engine of the presidency: coordinating policy across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and serving as the central secretariat for constitutional bodies such as the Federal Executive Council and the National Council of State. “It is deeply unfortunate that an office with such central responsibilities appears to have been misled, or worse, used, by a purported impostor,” the statement said.
Usman highlighted a specific example that, he said, underscored the seriousness of the lapse: a letter dated June 24, 2025, from the SGF’s office inviting the purported Director-General of the fake agency to attend the Canada‑Africa Fintech Summit in Canada. “We were shocked when we came across that invitation,” Usman said, adding that the discovery raises questions about internal verification and vetting procedures within the SGF’s office.
While the forum praised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for what it described as fair distribution of projects and appointments to Benue State and the North Central zone, it said the scandal has nevertheless caused “great embarrassment” to the Tinubu administration because the SGF is a former governor of Benue State. The NCPF urged President Tinubu to continue to treat the region fairly, despite the embarrassment arising from the apparent failure to detect a fraudulent agency.
The group also commended the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, for initiating a petition to security agencies that prompted probes into the matter. The NCPF pointed to an interim report by the Inspector‑General of Police Monitoring Unit — filed in court proceedings — which states the investigation was triggered by the Chief of Staff’s petition.
In closing, Yunusa Usman called on President Tinubu and relevant investigative bodies to pursue the matter fully and ensure that anyone found responsible for perpetrating or facilitating the fraud is held to account. The NCPF has demanded full transparency from the SGF’s office about how the correspondence was received and processed and asked for corrective steps to prevent similar breaches going forward.
