Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has called for the immediate arrest and prosecution of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over a recent revelation of alleged collusion with former President Olusegun Obasanjo to fleece and loot public funds when they were in power.
Recalls that one Michael Achimugu, who called himself a former aide of Atiku, had released a video in which he gave details of how Atiku allegedly used phony companies called ‘Special Purpose Vehicles’ (SPVs) to receive bribes and divert public funds when he was vice president of Nigeria under Obasanjo.
In the video, which went viral on the social media, Achimugu warned Nigerians against voting Atiku as president on the grounds of his alleged corrupt tendencies.
Corroborating his claims, the ex-aide shared an audio recording of alleged phone conversion between him and Atiku, in which the former vice president admitted that while serving as deputy to Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007, he founded the SPVs with the aim to “carry out certain activities” in a deceitful bid to avoid being linked to corruption.
Reacting to Achimugu’s revelations on Monday in Abuja, through the APC presidential campaign council at a world press conference, Tinubu insisted on the arrest of Atiku, saying the former vice president does not enjoy immunity simply because he is a presidential candidate.
Director of Public Affairs and chief spokesperson of the APC presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo (SAN), said Atiku must must apologise and renounce his presidential ambition.
Keyamo, who is also the minister of State for Labour and Productivity said, “We understand that the law enforcement agencies may be reluctant to act simply because of the perception of persecution of a presidential candidate that this may evoke.”
A text of the world press conference in which Keyamo read from reads: “For about a week now, Nigerians have been in deep shock over the grave revelations by a whistle-blower, Mr. Michael Achimugu, who has provided the nation with iron-cast evidence of letters of appointment by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, emails, documents, audio clips, sworn affidavit and direct oral evidence as to how Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (who happens to be the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party) during his tenure as Vice-President of Nigeria between 1999 and 2007, colluded with his then boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, to fleece the country and steal public funds using what he termed “Special Purpose Vehicles” (SPVs).
“Those SPVs were companies Atiku admittedly registered upon assumption of office as Vice-President (with the approval of President Olusegun Obasanjo) using “trusted allies” as shareholders and Directors. The purpose was to divert government contracts to these companies as “consultants” and then paid monies into these companies and used those monies to fund the PDP and their private businesses and family activities.
“We can all vividly recall that during that tenure, both President Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar built the Bells University and American University respectively. Now, we know from where the funds came.
“We hereby make available Certified True Copies of the affidavit sworn to and released to the public by the whistleblower, Mr. Michael Achimugu, giving graphic details of all that transpired, including attached documents. Let us also play to you the voice recording he did of Atiku Abubakar. Note that he provided the time of the call, the phone number used and the emails immediately preceding the call.”
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