Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has issued President Bola Tinubu a seven-day ultimatum to order a transparent, comprehensive, and independent investigation into the scandal surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), warning that failure to do so would amount to complicity in what he described as a "full-blown crisis of institutional credibility."
Atiku's ultimatum, delivered through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Friday, July 3, 2026, came just hours after the Presidency dismissed the PFIPC as a "fictitious" agency and described its self-styled Director-General, Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi, as an impostor facing criminal prosecution for forgery and impersonation. But Atiku argued that the Presidency's explanation had left more questions than answers, and that the central issue was no longer the conduct of one individual but the institutional systems that allegedly recognised and facilitated the operations of an agency the government insists never existed.
"If the government wants Nigerians to believe that one man single-handedly created an office for himself, secured office space within a government facility, held meetings with foreign embassy delegations, paid courtesy visits to the EFCC, processed staff salaries through official channels, allegedly operated institutional accounts, and carried on all these activities without the knowledge, approval, negligence or collaboration of anyone within government, then that narrative raises even more troubling questions than it answers," Atiku said in the statement.
He questioned how one man could allegedly secure budgetary allocations, office space within a government facility, and meetings with foreign delegations and legislators without the knowledge or approval of anyone in government. He argued that the accused's antecedents could not explain away the institutional processes he reportedly navigated. "Was it his character that secured budgetary allocations for a supposedly fictitious office? Was it his antecedents that got him office space within a government facility? Was it his dubious nature that enabled him to hold meetings with foreign delegations, legislators and public officials, with some of those engagements reportedly covered by the media? Was it his character that opened or operated official financial channels for the agency?" Atiku asked.
The former vice president noted that public records had reportedly shown that the PFIPC was captured in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budgetary allocation running into billions of naira, and that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation allegedly approved the recruitment of more than 300 personnel into the agency. He argued that such developments could not be dismissed as administrative oversights, noting that budget preparation is a structured process involving ministries, departments, agencies, the Budget Office, the National Assembly, and ultimately presidential assent. "Recruitment into the Federal Civil Service is also governed by manpower planning, establishment approvals, financial implications, grade-level structures and other established procedures," he added.
Quoting the novelist Chinua Achebe, Atiku said a man asked to carry a basket of eggs does not break them all and then blame the road, insisting the Presidency could not continue blaming one man while declining to account for the official systems that gave life to the scandal. "At this point, the story looks less like a clean explanation and more like an attempt to isolate one man after an internal arrangement went sour," he said. "If Mr. Adeniyi Adeyemi committed fraud, he must face the law. But the bigger question is this: what kind of government system allows such an elaborate operation to pass through budgetary, administrative, security and institutional channels without detection? Haba. Nigerians cannot be asked to swallow such a story whole."
Atiku said the intervention of Adeyemi, who has denied the allegations and claimed powerful figures are attempting to silence him, made an independent inquiry more urgent, adding that only a full investigation — not press statements — could establish the truth. "Nigeria deserves the truth. Quietly investigating the matter and addressing the lapses would have been better than publicly presenting a story that collapses under its own contradictions. The President must order a comprehensive, independent investigation immediately. Anything short of that will amount to complicity by silence," he declared.
The PFIPC scandal, which has gripped the nation since the arrest of Adeyemi in October 2025, has exposed significant vulnerabilities in Nigeria's budgetary process and raised serious questions about oversight mechanisms within the Presidency and the National Assembly. With Atiku's ultimatum now on the table, the clock is ticking for President Tinubu to respond — and the nation is watching.
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