The presidential campaign council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has called for the arrest and prosecution of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar for alleged corruption.
The campaign council made the call during a press conference in Abuja on Monday, maintaining that Atiku does not enjoy any immunity.
Addressing newsmen, the heads of media directorates of the organisation Dele Alake, Festus Keyamo, Bayo Onanuga, Femi Fani-Kayode, and Idris Mohammed, urged Atiku to resign his candidature and apologise to Nigerians for allegedly using private accounts to siphon monies from the public treasury.
According to them, the campaign organisation will pursue legal means to seek the former vice president’s disqualification from the elections next month for alleged corruption.
The campaign council based its request on an audio recording released last week by Michael Achimugu, a former aide to Atiku Abubakar.
In the audio, the former vice president is alleged to have explained how shell organisations were set up to divert public funds.
Achimugu also claimed that the PDP candidate used the Special Purpose Vehicle scheme to take funds from an ex-Plateau State governor Joshua Dariye who was convicted for the misappropriation of the Ecological Fund.
The former governor has been pardoned by President Muhammadu Buhari. While Atiku was Nigeria’s vice president from 1999 to 2007, Dariye was a governor during the same period.
Addressing the press conference in Abuja on Monday, Festus Keyamo, spokesperson of the campaign council, said Atiku has a case to answer.
“Atiku does not enjoy immunity because he is a presidential candidate. We are saying this because they may be reluctant to act on the perception of the persecution of a presidential candidate it may invoke. However, facts are sacred,” Keyamo said.
“In another serious clime where situations like this arose, the law enforcement agencies acted decisively. You may recall in 2016, in the middle of campaigns for the exalted office of president in the US, the case of the private email of Hilary Clinton was referred to the justice department for likely prosecution a few weeks after actual voting, though she was actually cleared.
“That is what we want the authorities to do in the case of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. He has to be arrested and invited. He is not God. He does not enjoy immunity because he is a candidate.
“All monies should be recovered from the marine float account. In the voice note, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar can be heard boasting that the issue of that account was thoroughly investigated by the EFCC, yet he was smart enough to escape.”
The spokesperson said when Abubakar had a disagreement with former President Olusegun Obasanjo while they were in office, PDP asked the former vice-president to return N500 million that he allegedly took from the account.
“We also call for the protection of the whistleblower. When President Muhammadu Buhari came to office, one significant policy he adopted was that of whistleblowing,” he said.
“You are all aware that the policy has recorded tremendous success with the recovery of millions of dollars from hidden sources.
Keyamo added that “no harm must befall” Achimugu and members of his family.
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