A spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo, has vowed to sue the flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar over alleged money laundering and related offences.
Keyamo said even Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of his party (APC) cannot stop him from prosecuting Atiku.
He said this while appearing on the Channels Television program, Politics Today, on Tuesday.
“I am going to court. If they (PDP) wish this thing away, it won’t go away,” Keyamo said.
Recalled that Michael Achimugu, who claimed to be a former aide to Atiku, recently made some allegations of corruption against him (Atiku).
He alleged that Atiku used Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to siphon public funds when he served as vice president between 1999 and 2007.
SPV, according to trade finance global, is used to break down the risk associated with a pool of assets held by a parent company. These are legal entities created by a parent company to isolate the financial risk of certain assets, projects, or ventures.
Mr Achimugu also released audio records of discussions between him and Atiku, in which the latter was admitting to creating SPVs to hide slush funds.
However, the Atiku campaign team denied the allegations and accused the ruling party of sponsoring Mr Achimugu to make the allegations.
On Monday, Mr Keyamo wrote a petition against Atiku to three anti-graft agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) to investigate Atiku.
Keyamo also gave the agencies 72 hours to arrest the PDP candidate.
A spokesman for Atiku’s campaign, Dino Melayo later described the allegations against his principal as a fairy tale, adding that the council won’t engage the APC on the matter.
However, Keyamo said, “We will know whether there are fairytales when we get to court.
“In the case when they challenged my principal (Bola Tinubu), when they brought up dead documents from the US, I said go to court. Come out with your full chest and go to court. Up until today, they ran away. I am going to court. If they wish this thing away, it won’t go away.”
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria said he is prepared to face persecution if Atiku wins the February 25, 2023, presidential poll but said he would go to court.
“Whether Atiku Abubakar wins or not (of course, I know he is not going to win), I’m prepared to face persecution under his government. I am prepared to go to jail, I am prepared to be charged even if he wins the election,” he said.
He also said the country deserves to recover all funds allegedly diverted because they are public funds.
“The Nigerian people deserve justice on this issue. Every single money that was paid into that Marine Float Account must be recovered from whoever is the person. Nigeria must recover its money. Money paid into that account was public funds,” he stated.
Also In the course of the interview, Keyamo disclosed that he is willing to drop from the Tinubu campaign and prosecute Atiku if he is presented with the choices.
He added that Mr Achimugu’s revelations corroborate evidence in the public domain, adding that he has interrogated the evidence and the credibility of the source to take legal actions.
“If Asiwaju says ‘Festus, you are diverting from my campaign, don’t campaign for me again’ I will say please take your campaign because this is national interest. I have taken it as a personal issue,” he said.
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