In every pre-election year, it is usually hard to separate truth from fallacy or even the grotesque from the downright odd. The Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) saga has left President Bola Ahmed Tinubu battling to unravel a sleazy affair that has touched on the core of his administration, LEO SOBECHI writes.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to direct the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related matters Commission (ICPC) to investigate the alleged flotation of an irregular agency of the Federal Government came as a surprise to many Nigerians.
Before the President acted, many Nigerians had taken up verbal stones, which they hauled in the direction of the Presidency, listing the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) as another evidence of lack of accountability and rigour by the administration.
However, the inroad made by the sponsors and promoters of the PFIPC within the Federal Government circles made it quite hard for many citizens to believe that it was not a case of botched insider-sleaze tunnel.
The allegation by the phoney Director General of the PFIPC, Adeyemi Matthew that he funneled N400 million through a middle-man to the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, gave the critics the fuel to hold onto their belief that the business blew open due to the DG’s refusal to pass on additional N200 million to the CoS.
But the CoS’s decision to sue Adeyemi as well as the fact of his earlier petition to the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) brought about a new dimension to the entire saga. The gap between those who believed that the CoS was actually involved in the setting up of the PFIPC and those who gave him a large dose of the benefit of the doubt widened.
The rambunctious Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, told Nigerians in his monthly media chat that having known Gbajabiamila for more than 20 years, it was impossible that the President’s Chief of Staff should condescend to such antics. He declared that the creation of PFIPC was the handiwork of political detractors and rivals who wanted to make President Tinubu look bad in the eyes of the people.
Yet, others argued that it was not possible for an outsider to summon the courage to wake up a comatose federal agency, rename and factor it into the official stream and governance scheme of the current Federal Government.
