Breaking: Atiku Tells Tinubu What He Must Do in 7 Days Over Alleged Fake Agency Scandal
- Atiku Abubakar gave President Tinubu a 7-day ultimatum to order an independent investigation into the PFIPC scandal
- Atiku said the PFIPC reportedly appeared in the 2026 Appropriation Act and received recruitment approval for over 300 staff, undermining claims it never existed
- The former vice president warned that failure to act would confirm suspicions that powerful government interests benefited from the alleged fraud
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has demanded that President Bola Tinubu, within seven days, commission a transparent and independent investigation into the scandal surrounding the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), warning that inaction would amount to complicity.
Speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in a statement dated July 3, 2026, Atiku said the controversy had grown well beyond questions of individual forgery and now threatened the credibility of Nigeria's core institutions of government.
Source: UGC
Why Atiku rejected the presidency's explanation
Atiku, in a statement cited by Legit.ng and signed by Phrank Shaibu Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, dismissed the official response from presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga as inadequate, arguing that it raised more questions than it resolved.
He said it was not plausible that a single individual could have secured government office space, held meetings with foreign embassy delegations, visited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), processed staff salaries through official channels and allegedly operated institutional accounts, all without any knowledge, negligence or collaboration from within government.
"At this point, the story looks less like a clean explanation and more like an attempt to isolate one man after an internal arrangement went sour. Haba. Nigerians cannot be asked to swallow such a story whole," Atiku said.
He acknowledged that the accused, Adeniyi Adeyemi, must face justice if he committed fraud, but insisted the more urgent question was how such an elaborate operation managed to pass through budgetary, administrative, security and institutional channels undetected.
Budget inclusion and recruitment approval sharpen the crisis
Atiku pointed to two specific developments he described as fundamentally altering the nature of the scandal.
Public records, he noted, showed the PFIPC captured in the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budgetary allocation running into billions of naira.
Additionally, fresh reports indicated that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service allegedly approved the recruitment of over 300 personnel into the same agency.
"Budget preparation is a structured process involving ministries, departments, agencies, the Budget Office, the National Assembly and ultimately presidential assent," Atiku said. "These things do not happen by accident."
He cited Chinua Achebe to make his point:
"A man who has been asked to carry a basket of eggs does not break them all and then blame the road. The Presidency cannot continue blaming one man while refusing to account for the official systems that gave life to the scandal."
Atiku added that Prince Adeyemi's own public denial, in which he claimed that powerful figures were attempting to silence him, made an independent inquiry even more pressing.
He said the Presidency was not the appropriate body to assess those claims through press statements.
"Let the facts speak. Let every document be examined. Let every approval be traced. Let every official who acted, neglected a duty, or enabled this scandal be identified and held accountable," Atiku said.
₦501bn power bond: Atiku slams Tinubu
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar called on the Federal Government to immediately publish a full breakdown of its power sector debt payments, following disclosures by the Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) that cast serious doubt on official claims of settlement.
Atiku's Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in a statemented noted that Atiku said the revelations by APGC Executive Secretary Dr. Joy Ogaji amount to a collapse of the Tinubu administration's position on the matter.
Source: Legit.ng
