By Emmanuel Onyedika
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on the National Assembly to summon the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to appear jointly before its investigative committee under oath, so Nigerians can hear one truthful account of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) accounts scandal.
In a statement issued Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku, who is also the Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said the demand became necessary following conflicting testimonies by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) and the CBN before the House of Representatives. He argued that the contradictions exposed a government “trapped by its own contradictions.”
Atiku stated: “This is where the cover-up appears to begin. One institution denied authorising the opening of the PFIPC accounts and alleged forgery. Another, before the representatives of the Nigerian people, stated that the accounts were opened on the directive of the Accountant-General after due process was followed. Both accounts cannot be true.”
He warned that the conflicting testimonies had plunged the Tinubu administration into “one of the gravest credibility crises in Nigeria’s democratic history.” According to him: “When two of your most sensitive financial and monetary authorities publicly contradict each other on the same transaction, no serious leader needs a clairvoyant to know that his administration is trapped in a web of deception and a profound crisis of credibility.”
Atiku insisted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must clarify which version he believes, cautioning that continued silence deepens public suspicion. “President Tinubu must answer a simple question: Which version does he believe—the Accountant-General’s or the Central Bank’s? If he believes neither, why has he not acted? Every day he delays ordering a truly independent investigation, he deepens public suspicion that preserving his administration’s image has taken precedence over establishing the truth.”
He also faulted the silence of the Attorney-General of the Federation, describing it as a factor compounding the crisis.