…Raises questions over Atiku camp’s response
The Yoruba pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere has called for a thorough investigation into the controversy surrounding the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), saying the affair raises questions that go beyond the actions of Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi.
In a statement issued on Friday by its National Organising Secretary, Otunba Kole Omololu, the group said the sophistication with which the PFIPC allegedly operated warranted a comprehensive probe into whether other individuals may have assisted, encouraged or benefited from its activities.
It noted that many Nigerians had sought to understand how Adeyemi was able to present himself as the head of an organisation which the Presidency had since declared was never lawfully established. According to Afenifere, while public speculation has grown around the matter, only “credible evidence and an impartial investigation” can establish the facts.
The organisation also drew attention to what it described as the rapid succession of public statements from the camp of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar following the emergence of the controversy.
It said the first statement issued by Atiku’s Senior Political Assistant, Demola Olarenwaju, called for the dismissal and investigation of the President’s Chief of Staff, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila. According to Afenifere, about one hour later, Atiku’s spokesman, Paul Ibe, released another statement questioning reported budgetary provisions allegedly linked to the PFIPC.
The group added that about six hours later, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, through a statement signed by his spokesman, Phrank Shaibu, urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to order a comprehensive investigation into the matter. “The speed and sequence of these interventions have inevitably attracted public attention and suspicion and political commentary”, the statement said.
It added that some commentators had cited William Shakespeare’s observation in Hamlet that “The lady doth protest too much, methinks”, and Ian Fleming’s remark that: “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action” to explain why the timing had generated debate. Afenifere, however, stressed that “Whether those comparisons have any relevance is ultimately a matter of opinion rather than established fact”.
The group said the focus should remain on what it described as the central issue. “What should not be lost amid the political exchanges is the central issue: how an organisation that the Presidency says never existed as a lawful presidential body came to acquire the appearance of official recognition and engage with public institutions”, it stated.
Afenifere further said the controversy “looks like de ja vu of the Congressman Jefferson scandal involving Atiku Abubakar, which led to criminal prosecutions in America”.
