– Party condemns arrest of Adeyemi’s father
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has taken note of President Bola Tinubu’s directive to the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal.
We insist, however, that 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.
A few days ago, the ADC called for an independent inquiry into this matter, identified the institutions requiring investigation, and warned against any attempt to reduce the scandal to the actions of a single individual. We therefore note that President Tinubu has now accepted the central argument advanced by the ADC: that this matter requires an investigation and should not simply be explained away, as his Presidency had initially attempted to do.
However, by handing the investigation to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), an agency of government under the Executive, it conveys the impression that the President intends to keep the investigation in-house and possibly be a judge in his own case. 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.
This is why the President should seize this moment as an opportunity to restore some credibility to his government by allowing an independent inquiry made up of trusted citizens. A government that is drowning in scandals cannot be trusted to investigate itself.
Second, the ADC is equally concerned that, even as the President has ordered an investigation, the Presidency’s statement remains stubbornly presumptuous, appearing to have concluded that the appointment letters and other official documents were “forged”, even before any investigation had started. Yet, one of the central questions that the investigation is expected to determine is whether the appointment letters and other documents that Mr. Adeyemi relied on were genuinely issued, as he has claimed, or whether they were forged, as the Presidency has insisted.
Therefore, by anchoring the investigation on its own position, the government would have effectively biased the entire process.
The investigation must be allowed to independently determine whether the documents were forged, improperly issued, fraudulently obtained, or lawfully issued under the authority of the Presidency. The credibility of the entire exercise depends on allowing investigators to follow the evidence wherever it leads, rather than predetermining the outcome through official pronouncements.
Third, since the Presidency itself acknowledges that the investigation may extend to the conduct of public officials and institutions connected to the Presidency, Nigerians deserve to know whether every relevant office, including the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President, will be subjected to the same level of scrutiny as every other institution.
If this is so, the minimum expectation is for the President to direct his Chief of Staff to proceed on leave until the investigations are concluded. As long as he remains an active official of government, it creates the impression that the President is deliberately shielding a key party in this matter. It would also be difficult to convince anyone that the Chief of Staff would not use his powerful office to influence the investigations in his favour.
Third, the Presidency should immediately clarify whether the findings of the ICPC investigation will be made public. A report submitted only to the President is not enough. Nigerians have a right to know the truth. Transparency demands that the final report be released in full and that its recommendations be implemented without fear or favour.
Fourth, the President must commit to releasing the full, unredacted report at the end of the investigation. Merely announcing the outcome, or punishing a few expendable officials or scapegoats, will not satisfy a nation crying out for justice and will certainly not restore the confidence of the international community, which now views our Presidency as a den of scammers.
Fifth, the ADC condemns the reported arrest of the father of Mr. Adeyemi Adeniyi. This act of intimidation only strengthens the impression that the government is panicking and is desperate to hide the truth rather than uncover it. If indeed a crime has been committed, only the suspect can be legally arrested.
It is an established fact that Nigerian law does not provide for vicarious liability. Moreover, if the government is already going around arresting ordinary people while prominent government actors, who definitely have questions to answer, continue to sit pretty in their offices, where is the justice in this? And why bother to conduct any investigations if you have already decided whom to arrest?
The ADC will continue to monitor developments on this matter closely. As we have noted before, this is a national security matter that exposes either the culpability or the vulnerability of our institutions. It must therefore not be swept under the Presidential red carpet.
Signed:
Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi National Publicity Secretary African Democratic Congress (ADC)
