Atiku to Tinubu: Identify officials behind PFIPC scandal

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has challenged President Bola Tinubu to identify government officials involved in the circumstances surrounding the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council.

Atiku stated that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission’s interim report did not amount to an exoneration of the presidency.

He said the report, which allegedly identified negligence and ‘connivance’ within government processes, had instead raised fresh questions about how a supposed impostor was able to operate within official circles, gain access to government facilities and instruments, and establish accounts in the name of fictitious government agencies.

In a statement issued on Friday on behalf of Atiku by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former Vice President said the government could not simultaneously acknowledge failures within its processes and claim that the State House system was completely above board.

“If there was connivance, who connived? If public officers were negligent, who are they? Who granted access to government offices? Who recognised this supposed director-general? Who enabled him to operate within the machinery of government,” Atiku queried.

The ADC presidential candidate said the reported findings had effectively undermined any attempt to present the scandal as the isolated work of a lone fraudster.

The alleged scheme by the self-styled director of the disputed agency, Adeniyi Adeyemi, involved the forging of a presidential appointment letter, the creation of a fictitious federal agency, the appropriation of offices and instruments previously associated with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, the opening of bank accounts using forged legislative instruments and the alleged creation of two additional fictitious government agencies.

President Tinubu had issued a directive on July 7, 2026, ordering the ICPC to conduct a comprehensive 30-day investigation into the PFIPC scandal after weeks of public controversy.

The Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, who was mentioned in the controversy, appeared before the ICPC on July 20 to volunteer information as part of the investigation and has since filed a N15bn defamation suit against Adeyemi over the allegations.

Adeyemi is already facing an eight-count criminal charge at the Federal High Court in Abuja bordering on conspiracy, forgery and impersonation, filed by the police in November 2025.

He was rearrested in July after breaching his bail conditions and failing to appear for arraignment, and is expected to appear before the Federal High Court again later this month.

The House of Representatives also launched a separate probe into how the fictitious agency secured a N1.3bn allocation in the 2026 Appropriation Act.

Speaking further, Atiku argued that such activities could not have been accomplished without failures or assistance from individuals within the government system.

“A fake agency does not walk into government offices by itself. A forged appointment letter does not validate itself. Bank accounts do not open themselves.