The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has admitted that due diligence was not thoroughly carried out during the process that led to the recognition of the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC).
Walson-Jack made the admission on Wednesday while appearing before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the alleged operation of the disputed council.
She accepted responsibility for the lapse, explaining that her office relied on documents that appeared genuine without subjecting them to comprehensive verification.
According to her, there was initially no reason to question the authenticity of the documents because they bore the State House logo and what appeared to be a familiar official signature.
However, she told lawmakers that subsequent comparisons with authentic State House correspondence, supported by police forensic findings, revealed that the signatures were different.
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The Head of Service assured the committee that her office would strengthen its internal verification procedures to prevent similar incidents in the future and make the process more resistant to fraud.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, informed the committee that the self-acclaimed Director-General of the purported council, Adeniyi Adeyemi, could not appear before lawmakers because of a subsisting court order.
Represented by Deputy Commissioner of Police Olufemi Akinola, the IGP said Adeyemi could only be produced before the committee upon the order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
Following the submissions, the House committee adjourned further proceedings on the investigation until next week.
