Tinubu orders ICPC probe into fictitious “Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council

Abdullateef Fowewe

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to carry out a thorough investigation into the activities of a purported “Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council” (PFIPC) and related matters, the Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said on Tuesday.

In a statement, Onanuga said the President “directed that the investigation be concluded and a comprehensive report submitted to him within 30 days.”

The directive follows the discovery that the PFIPC is a fictitious body with “no basis in any law, presidential instrument, executive approval, or other lawful act of Government,” the statement added.

The statement identified one Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew as having presented himself as the PFIPC’s Director-General and “falsely claimed to be a presidential appointee.”

Among the specific lines of inquiry the ICPC has been asked to pursue are “the forged appointment letters and other official government documents; the use of a false claim of presidential appointment to seek or obtain official recognition and diplomatic support, including visa facilitation; and the opening of multiple bank accounts in the names of purported government agencies using allegedly forged documents.”

Onanuga said the President wants the probe to examine both the conduct of the principal individual and any collaborators and “the wider circumstances that may have enabled a fictitious body and a false claim of presidential appointment to acquire an appearance of official legitimacy.”

The ICPC’s remit will include scrutiny of the provenance and use of false documents, how official recognition or diplomatic support may have been sought or obtained, the opening and operation of related bank accounts, the source and movement of funds, and “the role of any public officer, private individual, financial institution, intermediary or other person or entity that may have facilitated, enabled or participated in the alleged scheme.”

Tinubu also instructed the Commission to identify institutional weaknesses that were exploited and to propose “immediate measures to prevent the recurrence of similar abuses.”

All federal ministries, departments and agencies were directed to provide the ICPC, “upon lawful request, with all relevant information, records and assistance required for the expeditious completion of the investigation.”

The Presidency stressed the need to safeguard the integrity of the office, saying the President insisted that “the integrity of the Presidency and the institutions of the Federal Government must be protected against impersonation, forgery, abuse of official identity and the exploitation of weaknesses in the public service.”

Onanuga added that “all persons found culpable be treated strictly in accordance with applicable law.”