The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has rejected President Bola Tinubu’s decision to assign the investigation into the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), insisting that only an independent judicial panel can guarantee a credible and transparent investigation.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the opposition party argued that the Presidency lacks the credibility to supervise an investigation into a scandal in which it is itself a central subject.
The party said that although it welcomed President Tinubu’s directive for an investigation, the decision to hand the exercise to the ICPC, an agency under the Executive, raised concerns that the probe could be influenced from within the government.
According to the ADC, the President has effectively accepted the party’s earlier position that the PFIPC controversy requires a full investigation rather than the initial attempts by the Presidency to dismiss the allegations.
It, however, maintained that an independent judicial panel made up of respected Nigerians would inspire greater public confidence than an investigation conducted by a government agency under the control of the Executive.
The party said, “Only an independent judicial panel will be able to provide answers beyond all reasonable doubt to the many questions that this historic scandal has thrown up.”
It added that, “A Presidency that is at the very heart of a historic scandal such as this does not have the credibility to authorise an investigation into a matter that has brought an entire country into disrepute.”
The ADC further accused the Presidency of prejudicing the investigation by already describing the appointment letters and other documents allegedly used by Mr. Adeyemi Adeniyi was forged before investigators had commenced their work.
According to the party, one of the major objectives of the investigation should be to determine whether the documents were genuinely issued, fraudulently obtained, improperly issued or forged, warning that official pronouncements made before the commencement of the probe could compromise its integrity.
