Former presidential spokesman, Laolu Akande, has added his voice to growing calls for the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, to temporarily step aside over the controversy surrounding the alleged fake Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC).
Akande made the call on Thursday while speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
He was reacting to the recent arrest of Adeniyi Adeyemi, who allegedly presented himself as the Director-General of the controversial Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC), an agency the Federal Government has since described as non-existent.
Akande said, “Gbajabiamila holds it to himself, his family, the President and Nigerians, to step aside. It is just the common human decent thing to do.
“Adeyemi has told Nigerians that he knew nothing about the itemizing of the ‘fake’ agency in the budget. I’m not saying what he said is true or not true.
“You cannot have somebody making those huge significant claims about those that are in government and then the people are still sitting there. How do you ever think it will create an impression of trust?
“How do you think that people will consider that the investigation that the President has ordered is going to be fair if they are still there?”
BACKSTORY:
The controversy surrounding the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) has continued to generate widespread reactions after the Federal Government declared that no such agency exists under its administration.
The scandal came to the fore following the arrest of Adeniyi Adeyemi, who allegedly posed as the Director-General of the non-existent agency and is accused of using the title to engage with investors and public officials. His arrest sparked fresh questions about how the purported agency operated and whether government officials had any knowledge of or involvement in its activities.
Amid the growing controversy, opposition figures, civil society groups, and political commentators have called for a thorough investigation into the matter. Some have also demanded that the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, Femi Gbajabiamila, temporarily step aside to allow for a transparent and impartial probe, although no official allegation of wrongdoing has been established against him.
Adding his voice to the debate surrounding the PFIPC scandal, former presidential spokesman Laolu Akande argued that Femi Gbajabiamila stepping aside while investigations are ongoing would help strengthen public confidence in the process and reinforce the administration’s commitment to accountability and transparency.
