The House of Representatives’ ad hoc committee investigating the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC) is approaching the end of what has become one of the most embarrassing oversight exercises of the 10th National Assembly.
Since the probe began, lawmakers have uncovered forged State House documents, questionable approvals by government institutions, irregular budgetary allocations, office accommodation in the Federal Secretariat and the operations of a council that investigators say had no legal basis.
Yet, despite the scale of the scandal, one decision by the committee has generated almost as much attention as the revelations themselves: its refusal to invite Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former Speaker of the House of Representatives.
For many observers of Nigeria’s Parliament, the decision raises an important institutional question. Can a legislative investigation into an alleged fraud of this magnitude be regarded as exhaustive when one of the principal figures repeatedly mentioned in the proceedings was never publicly heard?
The committee insists the answer is yes. Critics disagree.
