Political scientist, Kunle Fagbemi, has called for the Chief of Staff to the President, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and other senior government officials to proceed on administrative leave pending investigations into the PFIPC controversy.
Speaking during an interview on ARISE News on Monday, Fagbemi argued that the scale of the controversy required the establishment of a formal inquiry and the temporary stepping aside of key officials whose offices may be connected to issues arising from the matter.
He said: “I now invite President, Commander-in-Chief Bola Ametinombu GCFR pursuant to the provisions of the Tribunals of Inquiry Act CAB T21, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 as per section one of the Tribunals Inquiry Act that issued proceed within the next 48 hours to institute a Tribunal of Inquiry and preferably a judicial panel of inquiry considering the magnitude of what we are dealing with.”
Fagbemi added: “I am aware that Nigerians have deficit issues with the incumbent administration but these are the statutory and constitutional things that are mostly done within the legal provisos of chapter six, part one of the 1999 constitution.”
He also called for several senior government officials to proceed on administrative leave pending investigations.
According to him: “In furtherance of the provisions of the public service rules, I invite the following officers under the auspices of the directives from the incumbent president, commander-in-chief to be asked to proceed on administrative leave.”
He continued: “They are the chief of staff to the president commander-in-chief, the secretary to the government of the Federation, the accountant general of the Federation, Ed, civil service of the Federation, the governor central bank and the director of banking operations of the CBN, the DG budget office.”
Fagbemi said the officials would be required to account for issues relating to their portfolios before any investigative panel.
He said: “These officers may need to understand that the data already in public domain demands that they must answer their portfolios correctly and they would need to appear before the panel of inquiry.”
The political scientist also raised concerns over the security implications of the controversy, warning that it exposed vulnerabilities around the Presidency and access to sensitive government facilities.
He said: “Kindly protect the incumbent president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR very well. We are in dangerous times.”
Fagbemi added: “This is mindful of the fact that what we are dealing with talks about the fact that somebody that has been declared fake is occupying a federal secretarial space.”
He further called for a comprehensive audit of offices and residential facilities within the State House complex and a review of access protocols to the Presidency.
According to him: “My plea to the four of you this morning will be to conduct an urgent audit of all offices and residential accommodation within the state house complex and ensure that you do the census of all the individuals occupying the offices and the accommodation.”
He added: “You will need to suspend and review all access clearances to the incumbent president, commander-in-chief, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and to the state house.”
Fagbemi also faulted the oversight role of the National Assembly in relation to the controversy.
He said: “When you take a look at the National Assembly and you want to discuss the oversight function, you will now understand that one officer in the Senate that has a lot of questions to answer is the chairman in charge of Appropriations Committee.”
He added: “His colleague in the House of Reps will have some questions to answer as well.”
Fagbemi argued that a judicial panel would help establish institutional failures and determine accountability.
According to him: “This will allow us to have a multi-stakeholder platform that will address the issues at stake and take a look at where the National Assembly actually failed.”
Hafsoh Isiaq is a graduate of Linguistics. An avid writer committed to creative, high-quality research and news reportage. She has considerable experience in writing and reporting across a variety of platforms including print and online.
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