…Condemns arrest of Adeyemi’s father
By Lateef Ibrahim
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) on Wednesday said it 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.
The ADC has however insisted that only an independent judicial panel will be able to provide answers beyond all reasonable doubts to the many questions that this historic scandal has thrown up.
The party said this in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi in Abuja.
The ADC reasoned that by anchoring the investigation on its own position, the government would have effectively biased the entire process.
It maintained that 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, it said, depends on allowing investigators to follow the evidence wherever it leads, rather than predetermining the outcome through official pronouncements.
According to the statement by Abdullahi, “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.
