ADC Dismisses ICPC Report on Fake Agency as Predictable, Accuses FG of Damage Control

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has strongly criticized the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission's (ICPC) interim report concerning the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC). The ADC described the report as "predictable" and "inadequate," asserting that the federal government is more focused on damage control than on conducting a genuine investigation.

“

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.

In a statement released by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC raised critical questions about the report's findings. The party pointed out the report's failure to explain how a "fictitious agency" allegedly obtained official government office space, had civil servants assigned to it, and was allocated N1.3 billion in the 2026 budget. The ADC also noted that the investigation reportedly uncovered two other fictitious organizations linked to the main suspect.

“

The ICPC report appeared to have given the impression that what happened was mere failure in government processes or procedures. This position is difficult to sustain in the light of publicly available evidence, which establishes that this is not an error of omission or a mere glitch in the system. Instead, what happened was a grand scam that could have been possible only with the active connivance of government officials and institutions at the highest level.

The ADC spokesperson expressed disappointment, stating, "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 party argued that the ICPC's portrayal of the incident as a mere "failure in government processes or procedures" is difficult to accept given the public evidence suggesting a "grand scam" possibly involving "active connivance of government officials and institutions at the highest level."

“

The ICPC report also comes gravely short by suggesting that there could be accomplices within government, but mentioned none. Yet, an agency that was able to recommend only Adeyemi for prosecution on the basis of an investigation that the Commission itself has tagged as either on-going or inconclusive.

Furthermore, the ADC found the ICPC report lacking for suggesting potential accomplices within the government without naming any. The party questioned the commission's decision to recommend only one individual, Adeyemi, for prosecution based on an investigation still deemed ongoing or inconclusive. The ADC suggested that if the report was preliminary, it should have been a confidential brief to the President, rather than a public "drama" that potentially prejudices the investigation and casts Adeyemi as the sole culprit. The party concluded that the public narrative of a single "clever impostor" outwitting the government is unsustainable given the existing public information.

“

What Nigerians expected was an investigation into how a “fictitious agency” managed to obtain all authorizations and institutional support required to operate as a legitimate government agency. Instead, what we are being offered, after weeks of so-called investigation is the same official narrative that the government had offered from the start: that what happened was a case of one clever impostor who, somehow, managed to outwit an entire government.