Reps Query FRSC Over Fake Agency That Listed Tinubu, Ministers as Board Members

The House of Representatives has questioned the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) over its approval of official vehicle number plates for a controversial organisation that allegedly listed President Bola Tinubu and several top government officials as members of its governing board.

The issue came up during an investigative hearing on Thursday, where the House Committee examining the activities of the Presidential Fiscal and Infrastructure Projects Council (PFIPC) grilled FRSC Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed over the agency’s verification process.

Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi, said the documents submitted by the PFIPC claimed that President Tinubu, Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, and several cabinet ministers were members of the council’s governing board.

Gagdi questioned why the FRSC failed to independently verify such extraordinary claims before approving seven official vehicle number plates for the organisation. He also noted that the documents submitted lacked standard government security features but were still accepted during the verification process.

“We are trying to expose the leakages so that agencies can close these gaps going forward. It is not to indict anybody,” Gagdi told the hearing.

Responding to lawmakers, FRSC Corps Marshal Shehu Mohammed defended the agency’s actions, insisting that officials followed established procedures. He said the FRSC received the organisation’s application on April 4, 2025, followed by a reminder dated April 11, both signed by Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi.

Mohammed explained that the application included documents outlining the council’s mandate, governing structure and the list of vehicles requesting official number plates. He said officials also visited the council’s office at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja and reviewed its website, which carried a federal government domain, creating the impression that it was a legitimate government agency.

He added that the FRSC also verified the chassis numbers of the vehicles before approving the applications, but only later discovered that the PFIPC had not been legally established as a federal government agency.

The Corps Marshal disclosed that the FRSC has begun retrieving all official number plates issued to the organisation and has strengthened its verification procedures to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Meanwhile, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has recommended the prosecution of Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi, who allegedly operated the fake agency. The anti-graft commission cleared the Presidency and the Central Bank of Nigeria of wrongdoing but identified institutional lapses across several Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the Budget Office, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).