Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has urged President Bola Tinubu to order a transparent, comprehensive and independent investigation into the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal within seven days.
Atiku warned that failure to initiate such a probe would strengthen public suspicion that influential individuals within government may have benefited from the alleged fraud and that Nigerians seeking public sector appointments could have been deceived through a scheme that enjoyed official backing.
In a statement issued on Friday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the controversy had grown beyond allegations of forgery and now represented a critical test of the credibility of government institutions.
According to him, the central issue is no longer whether an individual forged documents or impersonated government officials, but how an agency the Presidency now claims never existed allegedly received official recognition and operated through government channels.
He argued that the explanation offered by the Presidency through the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, raised more questions than it resolved.
Atiku questioned how one individual could allegedly establish an office, secure space within a government facility, engage foreign diplomatic missions, visit the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), process staff salaries through official channels, operate institutional accounts and carry out such activities without the knowledge or involvement of government officials.
He maintained that if Adeniyi Adeyemi committed any offence, he should face prosecution, but insisted that relevant government institutions must also explain how the alleged activities passed through administrative, financial and security processes without detection.
The former vice president further argued that Adeyemi’s personal actions alone could not explain reports that the agency allegedly received budgetary allocations, occupied government offices and operated official financial channels.
Atiku also referred to reports claiming that the PFIPC appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a multi-billion-naira allocation and that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation approved the recruitment of more than 300 personnel into the agency.
He noted that both federal budgeting and civil service recruitment involve multiple layers of institutional approval and could not simply be dismissed as administrative errors.
According to him, recent public comments by Adeyemi, in which he denied the allegations and claimed powerful individuals were attempting to silence him, further underscored the need for an independent inquiry.
Atiku said only an impartial investigation could establish the facts by examining documents, tracing approvals and identifying any officials who may have acted improperly, failed in their duties or enabled the alleged scandal.
He added that the controversy now raises serious concerns about the integrity of Nigeria’s budgeting process, the credibility of the federal civil service, the effectiveness of institutional oversight and the Presidency’s ability to account for activities carried out in its name.
The former vice president called on President Tinubu to immediately set up an independent investigative panel, warning that any delay or failure to do so would deepen public doubts about the government’s handling of the matter.
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