The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) of shielding some government officials in its investigation into the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
In a statement issued on Saturday by Bolaji Abdullahi, its national publicity secretary, the ADC insisted that the controversy extends beyond Adeniyi Adeyemi, PFIPC director-general, who has been recommended for prosecution.
The opposition party described the ICPC’s interim report as “predictable” and “inadequate”, alleging that it was more concerned with protecting government officials than uncovering the full extent of the scandal.
The ICPC had, on Thursday, recommended the prosecution of Adeyemi after concluding that the council had no legal backing and never existed as a government agency.
The commission also cleared the presidency and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of wrongdoing but blamed institutional lapses in several ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) for enabling the fraud.
‘ICPC REPORT RAISES MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS’
Reacting, the ADC said the report failed to explain how a fictitious agency allegedly secured office space within the federal secretariat, had civil servants deployed to it and appeared in the 2026 budget with a reported N1.3 billion allocation.
“It would be recalled that when President Bola Tinubu directed the ICPC to undertake investigation into this case, ADC had waved it off, insisting instead on a full investigation by an independent panel,” the statement reads.
“With the so-called interim report of the ICPC, our fears have come to pass as the report is not only predictable, it appears more concerned with exonerating government officials rather than providing clear answers to the serious questions that the scandal has raised.”
The political party stated that the ICPC’s conclusion that the incident resulted from procedural failures was inconsistent with the evidence already in the public domain.
“The ICPC report appeared to have given the impression that what happened was mere failure in government processes or procedures,” ADC said
