Former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has called for an independent investigation into the controversy surrounding the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal.
Atiku, in a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, also raised fresh questions over an alleged N6.44bn budgetary allocation for Nigeria’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign after the country had already been eliminated from the race.
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, described the PFIPC scandal as a test of President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to transparency and accountability, alleging that the Federal Government was attempting to control the narrative surrounding the scandal instead of allowing an impartial investigation.
The former VP argued that the controversy extended far beyond the alleged activities of Adeniyi Adeyemi, the self-acclaimed Director-General of the PFIPC.
Atiku argued that the more fundamental questions are how an organisation now reportedly described by the Presidency as non-existent gained access to the highest levels of government, allegedly secured office accommodation within the Federal Secretariat, recruited hundreds of personnel, obtained diplomatic recognition and was reportedly allocated public funds.
“The scandal is not merely that one man allegedly impersonated public authority. The greater scandal is that the Tinubu administration allegedly opened the doors of the Nigerian state to him, allowed him to acquire the appearance and privileges of official legitimacy and permitted him to interact with institutions and diplomatic interests in the name of the Federal Government.
“How does a serious government budget N6.44bn for presidential support for World Cup qualifiers after the country had already been eliminated? What competition was the money intended to support? Who inserted the provision, who approved it and who was expected to benefit from an expenditure whose stated purpose had already ceased to exist?
“It reinforces public suspicion that the national budget has become a warehouse for dubious expenditures, fiscal waste and allocations without any defensible public purpose.”
The former VP also expressed concern over the recent arrest of Adeniyi Adeyemi, alleging that it could be used to divert attention from the broader issues raised by the scandal.
Adeyemi has been accused of forgery, impersonation and obtaining money by false pretences. He has also publicly alleged that he paid about N400m in bribes to secure his appointment and mentioned senior government officials, including the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila.
The Wazirin Adamawa, however, stressed that those allegations remain unproven and should be subjected to an impartial investigation.
“The probe ordered by President Tinubu and assigned to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission is insufficient, self-serving and incapable of inspiring public confidence in the government’s claim of innocence.
“A compromised process in which the government interrogates suspects in secrecy, suppresses inconvenient facts and later emerges with a contrived narrative blaming the opposition would be a pathetic assault on truth and a further demolition of the credibility of the Tinubu administration,” he said.
That said, Atiku called on the National Assembly to constitute an independent bipartisan investigative panel to examine every aspect of the PFIPC controversy.
He also urged the Nigerian Bar Association, civil society organisations and the diplomatic community to insist on a transparent investigation.
“We therefore call on the National Assembly to immediately constitute an independent bipartisan panel to investigate every aspect of the PFIPC scandal,” he proposed.
“Nigerians deserve to know who authorised the PFIPC, who facilitated its access to public institutions, who secured its office accommodation, who obtained diplomatic recognition for it, who inserted funds for it in the national budget and who benefited from its operations. Nigerians deserve the truth — not another carefully scripted public relations exercise,” the statement further read.
Responding to Atiku’s demand, the Presidency on Wednesday said the Tinubu-ordered ICPC investigation into the scandal was the only independent probe required to unravel the case.
It challenged Atiku to explain what kind of country he intended to preside over if he already distrusted the institutions of the Nigerian state.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Temitope Ajayi, responded to Atiku’s latest statement on the matter, while speaking to Punch on Wednesday.
Ajayi said the former Vice President’s persistent rejection of an ICPC-led probe raised deeper questions about his suitability for the presidency than about the government’s handling of the controversy.
He said: “Under Nigerian law, what other independent probe can be done other than the one that the ICPC is currently doing as directed by the President?
“The ICPC has been mandated to investigate corrupt practices because we believe in its mandate. The President has said that they should take it over.”