Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the Bola Tinubu administration to investigate and prosecute him if it has evidence linking him to alleged wrongdoing involving the $16 billion power sector fund.
Atiku, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, on Wednesday dismissed the revival of allegations surrounding power projects, privatisation and public assets as an attempt to divert attention from questions over the management of public funds.
Atiku said the National Assembly had previously investigated the power projects but never invited him to respond to any allegation of wrongdoing.
“The National Assembly investigated the power projects. I was never invited to answer any allegation of wrongdoing,” Atiku said.
He acknowledged that he chaired the National Council on Privatisation while serving as vice-president but said he disagreed with the concept of the power project and did not oversee its implementation.
“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 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) said he had repeatedly called for any allegations against him to be investigated since leaving office in 2007.
“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?
“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,” he said.
Atiku linked the renewed allegations to his persistent demands for transparency over funds saved from the removal of fuel subsidy.
He said Nigerians had accepted the economic hardship caused by subsidy removal on the understanding that the savings would be redirected towards 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.
“Meanwhile, government revenues have increased, while fiscal incentives, waivers, tax credits and concessions continue to be available to powerful economic interests.
“So our question remains brutally simple: Where is the people’s money?” he asked.
Atiku also criticised what he described as a disparity between government interventions benefiting wealthy interests and support available to ordinary Nigerians.
“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. That hypocrisy is precisely what we are challenging,” he stated.
He vowed that social-media attacks would not stop him from demanding accountability over the use of public resources.
“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.
“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?”
The remarks represent Atiku’s position and allegations; they should not be presented as established findings of wrongdoing or misconduct by the Tinubu administration.
