ADC Argues that Penalizing 'Pretender' Fails to Identify Those Responsible for Granting Government Access

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has rejected the interim report of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) regarding the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), arguing that it fails to provide a plausible explanation for how a fictitious agency managed to infiltrate the government's machinery.

n

The party's concern is not merely how an individual allegedly impersonated a government official, but rather how the supposed fake agency secured office space at the Federal Secretariat, employed civil servants, utilized official vehicles, and was allocated N1.3 billion in the 2026 budget, as well as being provided with armed security.

n

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC characterized the ICPC report as predictable, suggesting that it is more focused on protecting the government's image and exonerating its officials than on addressing the underlying issues raised by the scandal.

n

According to Abdullahi, the ICPC report implies that the incident was merely a result of a failure in government processes or procedures, a stance that is difficult to justify given the publicly available evidence.

n

The ADC emphasized that the alleged PFIPC was not established by Nigerian law or any legitimate executive approval, yet it managed to obtain the necessary institutional backing to operate as a government agency.

n

The party took issue with the ICPC's recommendation to prosecute Adeyemi, while hinting at the possibility of other accomplices within the government without identifying any, and questioned the logic behind making the report public rather than presenting it as a confidential brief to the President.

n

The ADC highlighted the N1.3 billion allocated to PFIPC in the 2026 Appropriation Act as a crucial issue that requires clarification, noting that the National Assembly has already initiated an investigation into how the allocation was included in the budget.

n

The party argued that the investigation should reveal who proposed the allocation, who processed it, and who verified the agency that was supposed to receive the funds, as budgetary provisions do not occur by accident and leave a trail of records, submissions, approvals, and audits.

n

The ADC also inquired about how PFIPC secured accommodation within the Federal Secretariat and how civil servants were assigned to an organization that the Presidency now claims never existed.

n

The party stated that prosecuting Adeyemi without addressing these questions would be equivalent to punishing the individual who entered through the window while ignoring the person who left the doors open.

n

The ADC raised the issue of a purported appointment letter bearing the signature of the Chief of Staff to the President, which investigators reportedly found to be forged, and argued that establishing the forgery only explains the initial stage of the deception, not how the document passed through subsequent layers of government verification.

n

The party noted that the reported discovery by the ICPC of two other fictitious organizations allegedly linked to Adeyemi should have expanded the investigation rather than narrowing its focus to a single suspect.

n

The ADC recalled that when President Bola Tinubu directed the ICPC to investigate the matter, the party had instead called for a full investigation by an independent panel, arguing that a government agency cannot adequately probe a scandal involving government institutions.

n

The party described the incident as a national disgrace and argued that no serious government should be satisfied with identifying a single culprit for prosecution.

n

The ADC demanded the immediate publication of the full ICPC interim report and called for every public official whose actions or negligence enabled the alleged fictitious organizations to obtain official legitimacy to be identified and held accountable where wrongdoing is established.

n

The party emphasized that Nigerians are not asking the government to manufacture culprits, but to follow the evidence wherever it leads, warning that anything less would be an exercise aimed at containing the embarrassment rather than uncovering the truth.