Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s directive to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the activities of the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) is a reluctant but significant response to the seven-day ultimatum he issued, demanding a thorough and transparent investigation into the scandal.

Atiku, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said the President’s latest directive amounts to an admission that the Police investigation the Presidency repeatedly relied upon was either incomplete or incapable of answering the fundamental questions Nigerians have continued to ask.

“Only one week ago, the Presidency emphatically told Nigerians that the matter had already been investigated by the Police following petitions from the Chief of Staff in October 2025; that the suspect had been arrested; that searches had been conducted; that documentary exhibits had been recovered; that bank accounts had been traced; that statements had been obtained; and that criminal charges had already been filed before the Federal High Court.

“If all of that is true, what exactly is the ICPC expected to spend another thirty days investigating?

“If the Police investigation was comprehensive, another investigation is unnecessary. If another investigation has become necessary, then the inevitable conclusion is that the earlier investigation was insufficient. The President cannot simultaneously maintain both positions without contradicting his own government.”

Atiku said the contradiction becomes even more striking because the President has now directed the ICPC to investigate “the wider circumstances” surrounding the alleged PFIPC.

“That directive is, in itself, a repudiation of the earlier narrative that this was merely the handiwork of one alleged impostor.

“The issue before Nigerians is no longer whether one individual allegedly forged documents. The issue is how an organisation the Presidency insists never existed allegedly acquired office accommodation, interacted with government institutions, sought diplomatic recognition, reportedly conducted recruitment exercises, operated multiple bank accounts and projected the authority of government over an extended period.

“Institutions do not accidentally confer legitimacy. Bureaucracies do not unknowingly sustain official-looking operations for months. Somewhere between the Presidency’s denials and the appearance of official legitimacy lies the truth Nigerians deserve to know.”

He described the thirty-day timeline handed to the ICPC as both excessive and difficult to defend.

“This is not a fresh crime scene. It is not a newly discovered fraud. It is a matter the Presidency insists had already been thoroughly investigated. If that claim is true, the ICPC should not require another month to rediscover what the Police supposedly established months ago. Nigerians deserve answers within days, not another cycle of delay.”

Atiku also pointed to another apparent inconsistency in the official chronology.

“While the Presidency insists the investigation had effectively been concluded months ago, reports indicate that the father of the principal suspect was only arrested last week. That development naturally raises questions about the status and scope of the investigation. Nigerians deserve a clear explanation of how that chronology aligns with the earlier assertion that the matter had already been comprehensively investigated and prosecuted.”

According to Atiku, the greater problem lies not merely in the timeline but in the structure of the investigation itself.

“What Nigerians demanded was never another internal government investigation. We demanded an independent investigation.

“The Federal Government is itself central to this controversy because the questions being asked concern the conduct of public institutions, official processes and possible institutional failures. In every constitutional democracy, a party whose conduct is under scrutiny cannot simultaneously appoint itself investigator, judge and final authority over its own case.”

He said allowing a government agency to investigate allegations whose outcome may ultimately reflect on the same government falls short of the standard of independence Nigerians expect.

Atiku said the President’s commitment to transparency is further called into question by the decision to appoint as Chairman of the implementation committee on state police a senior Presidency official whose name has been publicly mentioned in connection with the PFIPC controversy.

“The African proverb warns that when alleged thieves sit in judgment over one another, justice becomes the first casualty. Whether one accepts the proverb literally or not, its wisdom is timeless: no one should be a judge in his own cause.”

Atiku therefore demanded the immediate establishment of a Special Independent Commission of Inquiry comprising ten eminent Nigerians nominated by the Federal Government, the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the National Democratic Coalition (NDC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), civil society organisations, the Nigerian Bar Association, retired judicial officers and other respected Nigerians of unquestionable integrity.

He said the Commission should be empowered to:

– Conduct a comprehensive investigation into every aspect of the PFIPC affair;

– Review the findings and investigative records already compiled by the Police and other security agencies;

– Summon any serving or former public official whose testimony may assist the inquiry;

– Prepare and publish a White Paper containing its findings and recommendations; and

– Conclude its assignment within one month, publishing its report directly to the Nigerian people without requiring approval or clearance from any organ of government.

“That is the minimum standard of transparency Nigerians should accept,” Atiku said.

“Anything less will leave the unavoidable impression that the government prefers to investigate itself behind closed doors rather than submit to genuinely independent scrutiny.” (Daily Trust)

Update news