The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised President Bola Tinubu over the appointment of his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, as chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill.
Atiku, through his media aide, Paul Ibe, argued that the appointment undermines the credibility of the President’s directive ordering the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate the alleged Presidential Foreign Investment Promotion Council (PFIPC) scandal.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Tinubu inaugurated the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill and named Gbajabiamila as its chairman.
The appointment came on the same day the President directed the ICPC to investigate the controversial PFIPC allegations, in which Gbajabiamila has been mentioned.
Reacting to the development, Atiku alleged that the President’s action sent the wrong message.
“Tinubu, by action, appears to be urging Gbajabiamila to go and sin more.
“This confirms that the so-called Tinubu-ordered PFIPC probe by the ICPC is nothing more than a smokescreen.
“The President’s appointment of Femi Gbajabiamila as Chairman of the Presidential Working Group on the National Policing Bill on the same day he directed the ICPC to investigate the #GbajaGate scandal amounts to a morally reprehensible vote of confidence in his Chief of Staff, who has been accused by Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, the central figure in the PFIPC controversy, of collecting bribes in exchange for appointments.
“To make matters worse, the Chief of Staff was the one who inaugurated the Working Group on behalf of the President,” the statement read.
Neither the Presidency nor Gbajabiamila had responded to Atiku’s remarks as of the time of filing this report.
