By Moses Okorie
The Democratic Front (TDF) has faulted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s call for President Bola Tinubu to resign over the controversy surrounding the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), describing the demand as “mischievous, unwarranted and uncalled for.”
The group stated that Atiku’s position on the matter was based on what it described as a misunderstanding of facts emerging from the ongoing investigation into the activities of the purported agency.
In a statement jointly signed by its Chairman, Mallam Danjuma Muhammad, and Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, the group argued that the submissions made by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) before the investigative panel were not contradictory, contrary to the former vice president’s claims.
According to the TDF, the OAGF had maintained that the process of opening an account for the alleged fake agency at the CBN was never completed through its office and that no public funds were released to the organisation.
The group explained that the CBN’s disclosure that an account was opened for the PFIPC based on a communication from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) did not conflict with the Accountant-General’s position because both institutions referred to different government entities.
“It is unambiguously clear that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation spoke for itself as a single entity of government when it stated that the process of opening an account for the fake PFIPC with the Central Bank was not completed and that no amount of money was made available to the fictitious agency through the CBN,” the statement said.
The organisation argued that a contradiction would only have existed if the CBN had stated that the account was opened on the authority of the Office of the Accountant-General, which it said was not the case.
The TDF further alleged that those behind the purported agency demonstrated sophisticated fraudulent tactics by allegedly forging an appointment letter from the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President instead of following established government procedures through the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
It said the alleged fraudsters subsequently exploited another channel to secure the account after their initial attempt through the Accountant-General’s office failed.
The group also accused Atiku of politicising the matter and attempting to gain political mileage from the controversy.
It urged Nigerians to disregard the former vice president’s call for the President’s resignation, insisting that ongoing investigations should be allowed to run their course before conclusions are drawn.