Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the Federal Government to investigate him over the controversial $16 billion power sector expenditure and prosecute him if there is evidence that he committed any offence while in office.
Atiku said repeatedly raising allegations concerning the power sector, privatisation and public assets without prosecution amounted to an attempt to divert attention whenever questions were raised about the management of public resources under the President Bola Tinubu administration.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said Nigerians should recognise what he described as a coordinated effort to shift public attention from the economic hardship confronting millions of families.
“The National Assembly investigated the power projects. I was never invited to answer any allegation of wrongdoing,” Atiku said.
“Yes, I chaired the National Council on Privatisation as Vice President. But on the power project, I disagreed with its concept and did not preside over its implementation. The responsible minister did. The same applies to the Aluminium Smelter matter.”
The former vice-president, who served between 1999 and 2007, said successive governments had nearly two decades to investigate and prosecute him if there was evidence of wrongdoing.
“I have repeatedly asked to be investigated. I left office in 2007 and have spent much of the period since then opposing governments in power. If there is evidence that I stole public money, why has no government produced it before a court?” he asked.
“It is still not too late. Investigate me. Invite me. Produce the evidence. Prosecute me if you have a case. But propaganda cannot substitute for evidence.”
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), linked what he described as the resurgence of old allegations to his recent demands for accountability over funds accruing to the government following the removal of petrol subsidy.
He argued that Nigerians endured significant economic hardship after the subsidy was removed on the promise that the resulting savings would provide additional resources for development.
“They removed subsidy from the poor and promised that the sacrifice would free resources for development. Nigerians accepted extraordinary pain on that promise. Today, petrol is more expensive, transportation is more expensive, food is more expensive and the purchasing power of the Nigerian worker has been devastated,” he said.
Atiku added that government revenues had increased while fiscal incentives, waivers, tax credits and concessions remained available to powerful economic interests.
“So our question remains brutally simple: Where is the people’s money? You cannot take relief away from the poor, celebrate the resulting revenue and then tell the same impoverished citizens that government intervention on their behalf is economically irresponsible while interventions benefiting powerful interests are called incentives,” he said.
“That hypocrisy is precisely what we are challenging.”
Atiku maintained that attacks against him on social media would not deter him from demanding accountability from the Tinubu administration or advocating economic policies that he said would restore Nigerians’ purchasing power.
“The people who removed subsidy from the poor cannot frighten us into silence by resurrecting allegations that governments with all the investigative machinery of the Nigerian state have had nearly two decades to establish,” he said.
Atiku challenged the government to take the allegations against him through the appropriate legal process if it possessed evidence.
“If you have evidence against Atiku, bring it. If you have a case, prosecute it.
“But if you have neither, stop manufacturing distractions and answer Nigerians: You removed the subsidy. You collected the savings. Where is the money?”
Friday Olokor
Follow us on:
