By Dickson Omobola
African Democratic Congress, ADC, on Thursday called for the constitution of an independent panel of inquiry into the activities of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, PFIPC, an alleged fake agency headed by Adeniyi Adeyemi.
The call comes two days after President Bola Tinubu directed the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, to investigate the matter and submit a comprehensive report within 30 days.
National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, Bolaji Abdullahi, welcomed the President’s decision to order an investigation but insisted that the probe should be conducted by an independent panel rather than a government agency.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels TV programme, he also lamented the continued detention of ex-governor Nasir El-Rufai, saying President Bola Tinubu would be held responsible if anything bad happened to him in detention.
Abdullahi said: “We are glad that the president acknowledged that there is a need for further investigation, but what we are saying is that you cannot be a judge in your own case. Nemo judex in causa sua. It is on that principle that justice should not only be done but seen to be done. When you hand over an investigation of a scandal that involves your government, your presidency, to an agency of government, then people don’t think you are serious.
“People don’t think you are really looking for an answer. They think that you are just trying to absolve yourself. That is why we are saying it is wrong and only an independent panel of enquiry will do, anything short of that is drama”
On El-Rufai, he said: “ADC is not opposed to anybody who has legitimate case to answer from being prosecuted, but when you are holding someone in custody for bailable offences and you proceed to continue to arraign that person and continue to make bail conditions that are almost impossible for this person to meet, it creates room for us to believe that you deliberately intend to hold this person in perpetuity.
“What I can tell you is that the thinking within the ADC is that the All Progressives Congress, APC, government has concluded that they will not release El-Rufai until after the election. They know that with El-Rufai free, the opposition is stronger.
“This person (El-Rufai) has a medical condition. If you don’t allow El-Rufai to receive the requisite medical help that he needs because he was in the national hospital, according to the report we got from the family, the hospital advised that he should be kept under watch because his health was failing. What happened? The ICPC arrested the doctor. They said he was faking ill-health and he was abusing the health condition. If anything happens to him, President Bola Tinubu will be held personally responsible because the buck stops on his table.”
