By BONIFACE AKARAH

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has rejected the interim report of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal, saying the findings raise more questions than they answer.

HURIWA, in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, said the ICPC’s focus on the alleged activities of one suspect had failed to address the wider institutional failures that allowed the purportedly non-existent government agency to operate within official circles.

The organisation said the ICPC report established that Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi allegedly forged documents, falsely presented himself as Director-General of the PFIPC, created additional agencies, opened bank accounts using forged instruments and exploited weaknesses within government institutions.

While supporting the prosecution of any individual against whom sufficient evidence exists, HURIWA said the findings did not explain how such an operation could have continued without significant failures or possible complicity within government institutions.

“The ICPC now says Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi forged documents, falsely presented himself as Director-General of the PFIPC, created additional agencies, opened bank accounts with forged instruments and exploited weaknesses within government institutions,” HURIWA stated.

“But these findings merely scratch the surface of what is clearly a far deeper and more disturbing national scandal,” the organisation added.

According to HURIWA, the central questions remain how a non-existent government agency acquired official legitimacy, who admitted its operators into government circles, who authorised its engagements with public institutions and who failed to verify the organisation’s credentials.

The group also questioned how an agency subsequently described by the Presidency as non-existent could have appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budgetary allocation running into billions of naira.

“How did a non-existent government agency acquire the aura of official legitimacy?” HURIWA asked.

It further questioned who processed the relevant documents, who ignored warning signs and how the organisation was able to operate openly without being challenged by government institutions.

HURIWA said it was difficult to accept the idea that one private individual could have penetrated multiple Ministries, Departments and Agencies, secured official engagements and allegedly established an elaborate structure involving forged documents without corresponding institutional failures or possible complicity.

The association noted that the anti-corruption commission itself had identified weaknesses in inter-agency coordination, verification mechanisms and internal controls, arguing that such failures required further investigation.

“These weaknesses did not emerge overnight. They were sustained by human decisions, official omissions and institutional failures,” HURIWA said, insisting that Nigerians deserved to know who made those decisions and whether any public officials acted negligently or unlawfully.

The organisation also raised concerns over reports that the ICPC’s interim findings recommended administrative sanctions for some public officers whose alleged negligence facilitated the operation of the fake agency.

HURIWA argued that where evidence points to criminal wrongdoing, administrative sanctions alone should not replace prosecution.

It therefore urged the ICPC to follow every credible lead, regardless of the status or influence of those involved, while calling on the National Assembly to conduct a deeper independent investigation into the scandal.

The association said lawmakers should establish the chain of events that enabled the PFIPC saga, stressing that the public deserved to know not only who allegedly forged documents but also how government systems failed and whether officials should be held accountable.

“The credibility of Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign will not be measured by the prosecution of one suspect alone,” HURIWA said.

“It will be measured by whether the investigation is comprehensive, impartial and fearless enough to identify every person whose actions or omissions contributed to the scandal.”

HURIWA also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure that the investigation is taken to its logical conclusion and that anyone against whom credible evidence emerges, irrespective of office or political proximity, is subjected to the same standard of justice.

The association warned that until the circumstances surrounding the emergence and operation of the purportedly non-existent agency are fully established, the PFIPC affair would remain a major test of transparency, accountability and institutional integrity under the present administration.