PFIPC controversy: Atiku asks Tinubu to apologise, resign over conflicting accounts

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has called on President Bola Tinubu to apologise to Nigerians and resign over what he described as conflicting official accounts surrounding the Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) controversy.

Atiku’s position followed what he said were contradictory testimonies by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) regarding the alleged PFIPC accounts.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate argued that the conflicting explanations from the two government institutions had raised serious questions about the credibility of the administration.

He said the testimony presented by the CBN before the House of Representatives was at variance with the earlier position of the Office of the Accountant-General, describing the development as a major challenge to public accountability.

According to Atiku, President Tinubu should either order a transparent and independent investigation into the matter or accept responsibility for what he termed a failure of governance.

“President Tinubu owes Nigerians an unreserved apology for presiding over this unprecedented collapse of public accountability. If he cannot immediately restore public confidence through a genuinely independent investigation and ensure that everyone responsible is held to account, then he has forfeited the moral authority to continue in office. The honourable course is simple: apologise to Nigerians and resign,” he said.

The former vice president argued that the conflicting positions taken by the country’s monetary and financial authorities had exposed the government to a crisis of credibility.

“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. The President cannot continue to watch from the sidelines while his government tears itself apart with conflicting narratives,” Atiku stated.

He maintained that the President should publicly clarify which of the two accounts reflected the true position of events, warning that continued silence would only fuel public suspicion.

“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 added.

Atiku also criticised the Attorney-General of the Federation for not commenting on the matter, saying the silence had further undermined public confidence.

He called on the National Assembly to summon both the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to appear jointly before its investigative committee under oath to provide what he described as a definitive account of the disputed transaction.

“The PFIPC scandal has ceased to be merely about disputed accounts. It has become a referendum on President Tinubu’s integrity and competence. If a single individual could allegedly orchestrate a scheme that has thrown two of Nigeria’s most critical financial and monetary authorities into public contradiction, Nigerians are entitled to ask how many other abuses may have escaped detection because of weak oversight and institutional failure,” Atiku said.