Official Appearance Is Not Public Authority

An official letter arrives with a senior signature. A person carries an impressive title, occupies government premises and appears in a budget document. An email address, badge or system account confirms the visual story. Each institution in the chain assumes that an earlier office must have checked the mandate, so the request advances.

This is how official appearance can acquire practical power before lawful authority has been established. The problem is not confined to fraud. Organisations routinely act on expired delegations, informal instructions, job titles that exceed their legal powers, committees that have not been constituted, partnerships that lack approval and digital permissions that remain active after the underlying role has changed.

Official appearance is not public authority. Values-based leadership requires a traceable answer to four questions before a consequential action proceeds: Does the institution or office legally exist? Is this person validly appointed or delegated? Does the mandate cover this specific act? Is there an authentic, current decision record authorising it?

On 30 September 2026, Reuters reported that Nigerian prosecutors had charged Adeniyi Adeyemi with eight counts of forgery and impersonation. They allege that he created a purported Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council, installed himself as its director-general and used documents bearing presidential letterheads to seek office space, staff deployment and cooperation from public institutions. The presidency says it neither created the body nor…