The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has rejected President Bola Tinubu’s directive to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal.
The party in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi,
insisted that only an independent judicial panel would be able to provide answers beyond all reasonable doubt to the many questions that the scandal has thrown up.
ADC argued that by handing the investigation to the ICPC, an agency of government under the executive, it conveyed the impression that President Tinubu’s intention is to keep the investigation in-house and possibly be a judge in his own case.
“A presidency that is at the very heart of a historic scandal such as this does not have the credibility to authorise an investigation into a matter that has brought an entire country into disrepute,” the party stated.
It however commended the president for admitting that the matter requires an investigation and should not simply be explained away, as his presidency had initially attempted to do, but said President Tinubu should see this as an opportunity to restore some credibility to his government by allowing an independent inquiry made up of trusted citizens.
“A government that is drowning in scandals cannot be trusted to investigate itself,” the party added.
It expressed concern that, even as the president has ordered an investigation, the presidency’s statement appeared to be presumptuous, and seemed to have concluded that the appointment letters and other official documents were forged, even before any investigation had started.
ADC noted that one of the questions the investigation is expected to determine is whether the appointment letters and other documents that Mr. Adeyemi relied on were genuinely issued, as he has claimed, or whether they were forged, as the presidency has insisted.
“Therefore, by anchoring the investigation on its own position, the government would have effectively biased the entire process,” the party warned.
It maintained its call for an independent investigation to determine whether “the documents were forged, improperly issued, fraudulently obtained, or lawfully issued under the authority of the presidency.
“The credibility of the entire exercise depends on allowing investigators to follow the evidence wherever it leads, rather than predetermining the outcome through official pronouncements.”
ADC added that since the presidency itself acknowledged that the investigation might extend to the conduct of public officials and institutions connected to the presidency, Nigerians deserve to know whether every relevant office, including the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, would be subjected to the same level of scrutiny as every other institution.
“If this is so, the minimum expectation is for the president to direct his Chief of Staff to proceed on leave until the investigations are concluded,” it added
The party stated that as long as his Chief of Staff remains in office, it would create the impression that the president is deliberately shielding a key party in this matter.
“It would also be difficult to convince anyone that the Chief of Staff would not use his powerful office to influence the investigations in his favour,” ADC argued.
The party also called on the presidency to clarify whether the findings of the ICPC investigation would be made public, stating that a report submitted only to the president is not enough.
“Nigerians have a right to know the truth. Transparency demands that the final report be released in full and that its recommendations be implemented without fear or favour,” ADC stated.
The party condemned the reported arrest of the father of Mr. Adeyemi Adeniyi, warning that such act of intimidation only strengthens the impression that the government is panicking and is desperate to hide the truth rather than uncover it.
“If indeed a crime has been committed, only the suspect can be legally arrested,” ADC said, noting that the Nigerian law does not provide for vicarious liability.
The party wondered that if the government is going around arresting ordinary people while prominent government actors, who have questions to answer, continue to sit in their offices, there might be no justice.
