Atiku: APC Govt’s Institutional Loopholes, Administrative Lapses Created Adeyemi

Chuks Okocha in Abuja: Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has raised concerns over the institutional weaknesses and administrative mistakes within the Bola Tinubu government. The former vice-president pointed out the PFIPC scandal as evidence of the Tinubu administration's significant lack of competence, which allowed fictitious entities to maneuver through the federal government's corridors.

Admiring Atiku's concern, he is still trying to comprehend how Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew managed to deceive all the institutions and agencies tasked with scrutinizing and raising concerns about the creation and operations of the PFIPC.

The ADC Presidential candidate highlighted several critical aspects that shed light on the Tinubu administration's internal control and governance issues. He mentioned that the allocation of N1.3 billion to a non-existent council in the 2026 Appropriation Act demonstrated a lack of proper oversight from the Budget Office, the National Assembly, and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Atiku questioned how someone like Prince Adeyemi could mislead the Presidency, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the National Assembly, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He further wondered how such an agency, devoid of legal existence, could be provided with a budget allocation, office space, personnel, and even security details.

How did the EFCC Chairman and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives meet with this fabricated Director General without conducting due diligence?

The ADC candidate suggested that the Tinubu-led APC administration's culture of forgery and lack of discernment likely facilitated this high-scale fraud, which went unnoticed by security and regulatory agencies. To prevent such a disgraceful occurrence from happening again, Atiku urged that those who inadvertently aided the legitimization of an illegal agency should be identified and prosecuted.