By George Mgbeleke

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has received with profound disappointment the so-called interim report submitted by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the scandal surrounding the controversial Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), describing it as a document that appears to answer only the easiest questions while carefully avoiding the more fundamental issues that continue to disturb millions of Nigerians.

In a statement by the group national coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko noted that from the very day this unprecedented scandal broke, HURIWA warned that there was a real danger that the investigation would end with the prosecution of a single individual while leaving untouched the powerful interests, institutional failures and possible collaborators that enabled one of the most embarrassing infiltrations of Nigeria’s governmental architecture in recent history. Unfortunately, the contents of the interim report appear to reinforce those fears.

The ICPC now says Prince Adeniyi Adeyemi forged documents, falsely presented himself as Director-General of the PFIPC, created additional agencies, opened bank accounts with forged instruments and exploited weaknesses within government institutions. While HURIWA supports the prosecution of any individual against whom sufficient evidence exists, the organisation insists that these findings merely scratch the surface of what is clearly a far deeper and more disturbing national scandal.

The questions confronting Nigeria are neither difficult nor complicated.

How did a non-existent government agency acquire the aura of official legitimacy?

Who admitted its operators into government circles?

Who authorised meetings, endorsements and engagements with public institutions?

Who ignored obvious red flags?

Who processed documents?

Who failed to carry out elementary verification?

Who enabled the agency to function openly without challenge?

How did an organisation later described by the Presidency itself as non-existent find its way into the 2026 Appropriation Act with a budgetary allocation running into billions of naira?

These are the questions Nigerians expected the ICPC to confront directly.

Instead, the interim report appears to concentrate overwhelmingly on the alleged actions of one individual while leaving unanswered the institutional and official dimensions of the scandal.

HURIWA refuses to accept the proposition that one private citizen, acting entirely alone, successfully penetrated multiple Ministries, Departments and Agencies, operated for an extended period, secured official interactions and allegedly built an elaborate structure involving forged instruments without significant failures—or possible complicity—within the public service. Such a proposition stretches credibility beyond reasonable limits.

The anti-corruption body itself admitted that there were glaring weaknesses in inter-agency coordination, verification mechanisms and internal controls. Those weaknesses did not emerge overnight. They were sustained by human decisions, official omissions and institutional failures. Nigerians deserve to know who made those decisions and whether any public officials acted negligently or unlawfully.

HURIWA is particularly concerned that the interim report reportedly recommends administrative sanctions for some public officers whose negligence allegedly facilitated the illegal operation of the fake agency. If negligence or misconduct enabled a fraud of this magnitude, the public deserves a transparent explanation of why administrative measures alone would be considered sufficient in every case. Where evidence points to criminal wrongdoing, the law should take its full course.

The association therefore urges the ICPC to ensure that the ongoing investigation follows every credible lead, regardless of the status or influence of those involved. No office, institution or individual should be treated as beyond scrutiny.

HURIWA also calls on the National Assembly to deepen its independent investigation and publicly establish the chain of events that allowed the PFIPC saga to unfold. Nigerians are entitled to know not only who allegedly forged documents, but also how official systems failed and whether any public officials should be held accountable.

The credibility of Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign will not be measured by the prosecution of one suspect alone. It will be measured by whether the investigation is comprehensive, impartial and fearless enough to identify every person whose actions or omissions contributed to the scandal.

History teaches that scandals are rarely sustained by one actor. They endure because institutions fail, oversight weakens and accountability breaks down. Nigerians deserve the whole truth—not a partial narrative that leaves the most consequential questions unanswered.

HURIWA therefore calls on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure that the investigation is pursued to its logical conclusion and that every individual against whom credible evidence emerges, irrespective of office or political proximity, is subjected to the same standard of justice.

The Nigerian people deserve nothing less than a complete accounting of how a body later declared non-existent was able to present itself as a government institution for so long. Until those questions are fully answered, the PFIPC scandal will remain one of the gravest tests of transparency, accountability and institutional integrity under the present administration.

By Our Correspondent

Unhappy with the curel treatment on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu in prison, his family has vehemently decried the persistent harassment and intimidation of Kanu’s independent personal physicians by both the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria(MDCN).

The Okwu-Kanu family of Afaraukwu Umuahia, Abia State links the harassment of the physicians to the medical report they prepared after conducting an independent medical examination of Kanu when his health condition became contentious during his trial.

In a statement issued on Wednesday August 5, 2026 by the spokesman, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, the Okwu-Kanu family, raised fresh alarm over an ongoing “systematic harassment” of Kanu’s physicians for carrying out their professional duties.

The family’s outcry is coming on the heels of an official petition dated August 1, 2026, which Kanu sent to the Registrar of MDCN from the Sokoto Custodial Centre. He alleged that harassment and intimidation of his medical team has continued after his imprisonment and that his health condition was falsified by the Nigerian authorities to achieve their set goal.

In the petition to the MDCN, the IPOB leader said: “I am no longer in DSS custody. I have been convicted and transferred to Sokoto Correctional Centre under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Nigerian Correctional Service.

“Yet, the harassment of my medical team continues unabated, suggesting a coordinated campaign that transcends agency boundaries and constitutes a grave violation of my rights and the rights of my physicians, and the rule of law”.

During the period Kanu was in DSS custody his health had deteriorated which necessitated the high court to issue an order on September 26, 2025 for his medical examination. It turned out that the medical report presented by the DSS before the court was at variance with the medical opinion of the independent physicians led by Emeritus Professor of Cardiothoracic surgery, Martin Aghaji.

Dr Aghaji was reportedly abducted by DSS operatives in a midnight raid in July, whisked to Lagos and then to Abuja before he was released after 72 hours in custody. A member of his medical team, Dr Charles Ndukwu, is said to have been invited by MDCN, thereby harassing him over a matter that is already in court.

The Okwu-Kanu family is now saying that the ongoing harassment of the independent physicians was uncalled for since the “core medical issues” in the two divergent medical reports are among the issues before the Court of Appeal.

The DSS was apparently piqued by the independent medical assessment which was contrary to the official medical report it had tendered in court, purportedly issued by the team of Nigerian Medical Association(NMA)

According to the Okwu-Kanu family, it was the independent medical team that saved their son from near-death hence there was no basis for their harassment and intimidation by the DSS and MDCAN.

“The DSS mismanaged Mazi Kanu’s health and now seeks to punish the physicians who intervened,” the statement said, adding that “while in DSS custody, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s health was systematically neglected and mismanaged”.

Quoting the result of the independent medical examination, Kanu’s family inferred that “the state-appointed doctors allowed his potassium levels to fall to a life-threatening 1.9 mmol/L—a level capable of triggering cardiac arrest and sudden death.

“His hypertension remained poorly controlled, his kidney function deteriorated to established renal impairment, and serious cardiac abnormalities—including Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction and Cardiac Septal Hypertrophy—went untreated”.

The family noted that when Professor Aghaji and his independent medical team “finally gained access (to Kanu), they found a man on the brink of collapse.

“Through their professional intervention, his potassium level rose from 2.1 to 2.9 mmol/L—still below safe levels, but a clear demonstration of genuine medical progress”.

The Okwu-Kanu family further stated that with the genuine medical improvement recorded “episodes of nosebleeds, fainting, light-headedness and swollen feet ceased”, adding that Kanu’s “headaches subsided to an occasional level”.

“The DSS did not save Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s life. His personal physicians did. Their intervention, in the family’s view, prevented what had become an imminent risk of catastrophic medical deterioration.

“Instead of being commended for this intervention, these physicians are now being harassed, intimidated and persecuted by the very agency whose medical management, according to the family, had left Mazi Kanu in a life-threatening condition”.

The DSS had lodged a complaint against Professor Aghaji with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), alleging “unethical practices” for adjusting medications which the independent medical team considered clinically necessary.

The Kanu family considered the DSS complaint “the cruel irony” because “the DSS mismanaged (Kanu’s) health to the point of near-death, and now seeks to punish the doctors who rescued him”.

They argued that the purported medical report the DSS relied on was questionable as it was not even sanctioned by the NMA and predated the court-ordered medical examination of Kanu.

“The matter concerning the court-ordered examination of 26 September 2025 is now before the Court of Appeal and is strictly sub judice.

“Mazi Kanu is not seeking to re-litigate that issue in the petition. He is seeking only to stop the continuing harassment of his physicians and to secure access to independent medical care under the exclusive custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service,” the Okwu-Kanu family stated.

Accoding to the family, the harassment of Aghaji “is no longer an isolated action against one physician” adding that they view it as intentional efforts “to silence every doctor who documented the truth and provided the care the DSS failed to provide”.

Meanwhile, the Okwu-Kanu family said that they have notified the international community about the official hanky-panky with Kanu’s health, saying that copies of the formal petition have been transmitted to the governments. These include the United States, the United Kingdom, and the State of Israel, as well as international human-rights organisations, and relevant Nigerian institutions

Kanu’s family argued that the alleged abduction of a physician and the systematic suppression of independent medical evidence raise serious concerns under international human rights standards.

They backed their claims citing the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

By David Owei,Bayelsa

Following the Senate President, His Excellency Senator Godswill Akpabio’s call for further consultations during the third reading of the Nigerian Coast Guard Bill, the Provisional Committee for the Proposed Nigerian Coast Guard (PC-NCG) has issued a clarification on concerns regarding duplication of functions.

In a statement issued by the Director of Communication and Public Affairs, Dr. Piriye Kiyaramo, on behalf of the Chief Executive and Accounting Officer of PC-NCG, Captain Noah Ichaba Wednesday, the Committee said the consultation provides an opportunity to refocus the debate on facts, sound public policy, and the national interest.

“The evidence overwhelmingly supports this fact: duplication already exists. The Nigerian Coast Guard is designed to eliminate it,” the statement read.

The statement noted that since duplication of functions was one of the concerns raised by the Senate, it is clear that duplication has existed for decades.

Coast Guard duties have been distributed across numerous institutions. Each agency maintains its own command structure, personnel, logistics, equipment, administrative overhead, and budget to perform aspects of maritime safety, maritime security, law enforcement, environmental protection, search and rescue, border control, anti-smuggling operations, and the protection of maritime infrastructure.

“This is the true duplication,” Captain Ichaba stated. “The real question is whether Nigeria should continue managing critical maritime duties through fragmented and overlapping structures, or establish a dedicated institution to coordinate them effectively.”

A Reform, Not An Expansion:
According to PC-NCG, the proposed Nigerian Coast Guard does not create duplication. It is designed to eliminate it.

Rather than multiplying institutions, the Coast Guard will consolidate related civil maritime functions into a single specialized organization with one command structure, one operational doctrine, one statutory mandate, and one line of accountability.

“The Coast Guard is not another competitor in the maritime sector. It is the fourth pillar,” the statement added. “It is the institutional solution to decades of fragmented responsibilities, overlapping mandates, duplicated expenditure, and diffused accountability.”

Closing An Institutional Gap:
The Committee further noted that by dispersing Coast Guard duties among multiple agencies, Nigeria has unintentionally erased the institutional identity of one of the world’s most recognized maritime services.

“The nation performs Coast Guard functions every day, yet has no Coast Guard institution to represent those responsibilities nationally or internationally. The functions exist. The institution does not. The duties are performed. The identity is absent. Three of the four pillars are active, but the fourth is absent.”

As a result, Nigeria forfeits administrative efficiency, professional specialization, international visibility, and the strategic advantages that accompany a legally established Coast Guard.

For a nation with one of Africa’s largest coastlines, extensive inland waterways, major seaports, offshore oil and gas infrastructure, and a rapidly expanding Blue Economy, the absence of a dedicated Coast Guard diminishes Nigeria’s maritime standing.

The Path Forward:
PC-NCG welcomed the Senate’s commitment to further consultation and urged that discussions focus on existing structural realities, not merely on the name of the institution.

“The Nigerian Coast Guard is not a duplication, but a correction of duplication. It is not an expansion of bureaucracy, but a rationalization of it. It is not an additional burden on public finance, but a structural reform that promises greater efficiency, stronger accountability, better coordination, and more prudent use of public resources,” the statement concluded.

“The duplication is the problem. The Coast Guard is the solution. The time has come for Nigeria to replace fragmented responsibility with unified accountability.”