…says it leaves so much to be desired
African Democratic Congress has rejected the interim report of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission on the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, describing the report as “predictable and inadequate.”
ADC in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, accused the Federal Government of being more interested in managing the political fallout from the scandal than conducting a comprehensive investigation.
The opposition party said the ICPC report failed to provide satisfactory answers to how an organisation that the government now describes as fictitious was able to obtain federal office space, have civil servants deployed to it, receive official vehicles and security support, and secure a reported N1.3 billion allocation in the 2026 federal budget.
ADC argued that the development could not reasonably be explained as a mere administrative error or failure of government procedures.
“What has happened is a national disgrace in the full glare of the entire world. No serious government should be satisfied with identifying one culprit for prosecution,” the ADC said.
According to the ADC, the commission’s findings appear to focus on the alleged actions of an individual rather than investigating the government officials and institutions that may have enabled the purported fake agency to operate within official structures.
“What Nigerians expected was an investigation into how a ‘fictitious agency’ managed to obtain all authorisations and institutional support required to operate as a legitimate government agency,” the statement said.
The ADC further questioned how Adeyemi could have independently secured office accommodation within the Federal Secretariat, obtained the deployment of civil servants, received official vehicles with customised number plates and accessed armed security if the organisation had no legitimate government approval.
The party said these issues raised serious questions about the effectiveness of government verification and oversight systems.
The ADC also expressed concern over reports that the ICPC had uncovered two additional fictitious organisations allegedly linked to Adeyemi.
“If an investigation into one fake government agency leads investigators to two more, then the obvious question is no longer merely how one individual perpetrated an elaborate fraud. The question is how has this administration operated that made such systemic criminality possible?” the party stated.
On the alleged forged appointment letter bearing the signature of the President’s Chief of Staff, the ADC said establishing that the document was forged did not explain how the alleged deception passed through several layers of government.
The party queried the lack of verification of the existence of PFIPC before civil servants were deployed to it. It asked for identification of those who authorised its accommodation in a federal facility and processed its dealings with other government institutions.
The N1.3 billion budgetary provision was identified by the ADC as one of the most significant issues requiring clarification.
The party said budget allocations normally involve proposals, approvals, documentation and audit trails, and therefore urged investigators to establish who proposed the allocation, who processed it, who verified the beneficiary agency and how an organisation that the Presidency says never existed was able to appear in the Appropriation Act.
The ADC also noted that the National Assembly had commenced an investigation into how PFIPC was included in the federal budget.
“To prosecute Mr. Adeyemi without answering these questions would be to punish the man who entered through the window while refusing to ask who left the doors open,” the party said.
The ADC called for the immediate publication of the full ICPC interim report and demanded that any public official whose actions or negligence enabled the alleged fictitious organisations to acquire official legitimacy should be identified and held accountable if wrongdoing is established.
The party maintained that Nigerians were not asking the government to manufacture culprits, but rather to follow the evidence wherever it leads.
“Anything short of this, this so-called investigation, will remain what it presently appears to be: an exercise designed less to discover the truth than to contain the historic embarrassment,” the party said.
