The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating the unestablished Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) on Thursday uncovered a purported mandate submitted to the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in support of an application for official number plates, which listed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Chairman of the council.

It was further learnt it had the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) as Secretary, and serving ministers as members.

The discovery was made when the Corps Marshal of the FRSC appeared before the committee at the resumed investigative hearing in Abuja to explain how official Federal Government number plates were issued to vehicles used by the purported council.

Chairman of the committee, Rep. Yusuf Gagdi, expressed surprise that the FRSC processed documents which, according to him, bore no identifiable State House or security features despite containing the names of the President, the SGF and members of the Federal Executive Council.

Gagdi questioned how a document purporting to establish a council chaired by the President, with the SGF serving as secretary and ministers as members, could have been accepted by the FRSC without further verification.

He observed that the mandate relied upon by the council in its application lacked the official security features ordinarily associated with authentic State House documents, yet it was treated as sufficient documentation for the issuance of government number plates.

The committee noted that the official number plates issued to vehicles used by the alleged council had featured prominently in earlier testimony before the panel, with a businessman, Mr. Gbenga Collins, telling lawmakers that seeing the official vehicles, government number plates and security personnel around the alleged Director-General convinced him that the organisation was a legitimate Federal Government agency.

The committee is continuing its investigation into how the unestablished PFIPC allegedly obtained official government recognition, administrative documents, budgetary provisions and other approvals from public institutions. (The Nation, excluding headline)