Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused the Tinubu administration of turning scandal into a recurring feature of governance, warning that Nigeria has reached a point where the pattern of controversy itself has become the problem.
In a statement issued Sunday, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate said Nigerians are no longer dealing with isolated cases of misconduct, but with a systemic culture of impunity.
“There is an old African saying that when a man’s roof leaks every rainy season, neighbours stop blaming the clouds and begin to question the strength of the house itself,” Atiku said.
“Nigeria has sadly arrived at that point. The issue is no longer one scandal or another. The issue is the pattern. And when scandals become a pattern of governance, the inevitable conclusion is this: you are no longer managing scandals; you have become the scandal itself.”
Atiku described the controversy surrounding the purported Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) as the latest in a string of unresolved issues that have defined the current government.
He said what worries Nigerians is not just how often scandals occur, but the predictable cycle that follows: allegations surface, committees are set up, promises of accountability are made, headlines dominate, and then silence.
He cited the suspension of a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs over financial allegations. “Investigations were announced, recoveries publicised and assurances given. Yet Nigerians are still waiting for a comprehensive public account of what transpired, who was held responsible and what institutional safeguards were erected to prevent a recurrence,” he stated.
The former VP also pointed to persistent questions over transparency at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) which he said remain unanswered despite repeated demands for openness.
Atiku listed other unresolved issues, including crude oil theft allegations, discrepancies in the 2024 budget, billions spent on refinery rehabilitation with little results, and procurement controversies around major infrastructure projects.
“The pattern itself has become the scandal,” he said.
“When allegations involve ordinary citizens or politically expendable officials, the machinery of government appears to move with astonishing speed. But when questions drift dangerously close to the corridors of power… investigations slow to a crawl, independent scrutiny gives way to internal administrative reviews, public updates disappear and accountability quietly evaporates.”
He said this “selective application of justice” creates the impression of “two systems of accountability in Nigeria: one for the powerful and another for everyone else.”
“A democracy is not measured by how quickly it moves past controversy. It is measured by how honestly it confronts it,” Atiku added.
The Waziri Adamawa lamented that while Nigerians endure hardship from government “reforms,” public funds are allegedly being mismanaged.
“It is both cruel and indefensible that, while ordinary Nigerians are being asked to tighten their belts, the nation’s collective patrimony is allegedly being pillaged with alarming impunity,” he said.
Atiku said the PFIPC affair gives President Bola Tinubu an opportunity to prove that transparency is more than rhetoric.
He called for a truly independent investigation and full publication of findings.
He noted this statement came 48 hours after he gave the Federal Government a seven-day ultimatum to account for the PFIPC matter.
“The countdown has already begun. Nigerians expect answers, not evasions, before the expiration of that timeline,” he said.
“The Presidency still has five days left to tell Nigerians who created this phantom organisation, who authorised its activities, and who must be held responsible. Silence cannot become the official response to a scandal of this magnitude.”
Atiku further urged the President to also address lingering public questions about his age, family background and academic records, saying “unanswered questions rarely disappear; they merely endure.”
“Leadership is not simply about exercising power. It is about inspiring confidence. Transparency is not a concession to critics; it is an obligation owed to citizens,” he said.
He said: “History does not merely remember the scandals that confronted governments. It remembers how governments responded to them… The Presidency now stands at a defining moment.”
