The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, has admitted that due diligence was not thoroughly carried out in the process that led to the recognition of the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council.
She accepted responsibility for the lapse, saying her office relied on documents that appeared authentic without subjecting them to sufficient verification.
Walson-Jack made the admission while appearing before the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the alleged operation of the purported council.
She told lawmakers that her office had no reason to doubt the documents at the time because they bore the State House logo and what appeared to be a familiar signature.
However, the HoSF said subsequent comparisons with genuine State House correspondence, backed by police forensic findings, confirmed that the signatures were different.
She, however, assured the committee that her office would review its internal verification procedures to make them more robust and fraud-proof.
