7 July, 2026.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has finally broken his silence on the scandal of the fake Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council, ordering the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate the matter and submit a report within 30 days. This directive came only after public pressure mounted and the story threatened to embarrass the highest office in the land. But as the nation watches, one question lingers with uncomfortable urgency: will the ICPC apply the same ruthless vigor it has reserved for opposition figure Nasir El-Rufai, or will the investigation conveniently die a quiet death because the prime suspect is the President's own Chief of Staff?
Consider the case of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. The former Kaduna State governor has been in ICPC detention for months, held under court-ordered remand that has been extended multiple times since his initial arrest in February 2026. The ICPC has paraded him through multiple courts, filed amended charges, and even arrested his personal physician for allegedly making false statements during a court-approved medical visit. El-Rufai has faced bail conditions so stringent they appear designed to ensure his continued detention: a ₦200 million bond with two sureties, one a Level 15 civil servant and the other a traditional ruler. When he sought to have these conditions relaxed, the court refused. When he applied for bail in another case, the Kaduna State High Court denied it outright, ruling that he failed to provide sufficient grounds. He remains in custody.
The accusations against El-Rufai are serious: an N8.68 billion CCTV contract awarded to a company lacking qualifications, with over N2 billion allegedly moved through a network of companies. The ICPC has been relentless, pursuing him across multiple courts with evident zeal.
Now contrast this with the treatment of Femi Gbajabiamila, the President's Chief of Staff, who stands at the center of the PFIPC scandal. Adeniyi Adeyemi, the man accused of heading the fake agency, has made explosive allegations that Gbajabiamila demanded 48 percent of the agency's take-off grant and received N400 million through proxies. Yet where is the ICPC's urgency? Where is the detention order? Where are the stringent bail conditions?
Adeniyi Adeyemi was granted police bail and has been charged with eight counts of forgery and impersonation, but to date, neither the ICPC nor the EFCC has filed any additional charges against him. It took the President's direct order, prompted by public outcry, for the ICPC to even begin an investigation. Meanwhile, Gbajabiamila has not been detained, not been questioned publicly, and not been asked to step aside. Instead, he has threatened a N10 billion defamation suit against his accuser and petitioned security agencies to investigate the very man whose allegations should have triggered a probe of his own conduct.
The contrast is jarring. One man is an opposition figure, and the full weight of the state has been brought to bear against him. The other is the President's right-hand man, and he is shielded by the Presidency's own narrative that this is simply a case of an "impostor" running a fraudulent scheme.
But this is not just about Gbajabiamila. The deeper question is about the integrity of the President's legacy. President Tinubu came to power promising to fight corruption, to hold everyone accountable regardless of their station. Yet his administration has allowed a situation where a fictitious agency secured a ₦1.303 billion budget allocation, opened accounts at the Central Bank, and operated from the Federal Secretariat while his own Chief of Staff looks the other way, or worse, stands accused of facilitating it.
How did a fake agency get into the 2026 budget? How did it secure "self-accounting" status from the Accountant-General's office? How did it interact with a dozen government agencies without raising red flags? And why did the President need to order an investigation only after the scandal became public?
The ICPC's record under this administration will be defined by its handling of this case. If it treats Gbajabiamila with kid gloves while continuing its aggressive pursuit of El-Rufai, the message will be unmistakable: there is one law for the powerful and another for the opposition. The President's claim that the integrity of the Presidency must be protected will ring hollow if his own inner circle is allowed to escape scrutiny.
Will the ICPC be able to holistically investigate Gbajabiamila while he still serves as the Chief of Staff to the President? The answer is plainly no. No anti-corruption agency can effectively investigate a man who sits at the apex of the presidency's power structure, with access to every document, every official, and every decision. That is why civil society groups and opposition parties have called for him to step aside. That is why the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights has demanded an independent investigation.
President Tinubu must answer these questions directly. Is his anti-corruption fight genuine, or is it selective? Will he allow the ICPC to do its job without interference, or will he protect his own? His legacy hangs in the balance, and the nation is watching to see whether this probe will be a genuine reckoning or a carefully staged spectacle.
Mohammed Bello Doka can be reached via [email protected]
Abuja Network News
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