Tinubu and Atiku’s clash over moral bankruptcy

 

Nobody could have thought that the two best of friends, formerly in the same political party could go that low to spill the bean less than 46 days to the general election but at it is, the electorates, who are hungry for a better society are the greatest beneficiary of this putrid expose’

 

Emmanuel Ukudolo l Tuesday, January 17, 2023

 

OJODU, Lagos – The two major front runners for the 2023 Presidential election, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress, APC and his counterpart in the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar have taken their dirty linen into the public square and as the saying goes, the wind has blown and the well protected anus of the chicken has now been laid bare.

They have both exposed themselves as corrupt individuals, undeserving of contemplating any aspiration to occupy the number one position in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Nobody could have thought that the two best of friends, formerly in the same political party could go that low to spill the bean less than 46 days to the general election but at it is, the electorates, who are hungry for a better society are the greatest beneficiary of this putrid expose’.

Unfortunately, the arrowhead of this war of attrition are the media personnel, they hired to sell and guard jealously what is remaining of the little goodwill they have as former governor and Vice President.

In this case, the leaked audio discussion between the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and his former media aide, Michael Achimugu appears to be the basis of this unfolding drama that could seal the presidential ambition of the two top contenders.

In the widely circulated audio, the former Vice President told his media aide in clear terms that he registered three companies, which he used as Special Purpose Vehicles, SPVs for self aggrandizement while he was a sitting Vice President.

The very loquacious and arrowhead of the ABAT media campaign, Mr. Festus Kayamo, SAN, led his colleagues, comprising former Minister of Aviation, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, Editor in Chief of PM News, Mr. Bayo Onanuga and the former Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Dele Alake in a press conference, wherein he accused Atiku Abubakar of corruption, calling for his arrest and prosecution.

He followed it with his petition to the Independent and Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC and the Code of Conduct Bureau.

In the petition, the Senior Advocate gave 72 hours ultimatum to chairmen of the agencies to arrest and prosecute the former Vice President for four major infractions: Offence against the code of conduct for public officers;  offence of money laundering; offence of criminal breach of trust and criminal misappropriation and offence of  conspiracy.

He vowed to go to court if the agencies fail to act on his petition. As he puts it, ”For about a week now, Nigerians have been in shock over the public revelations of a whistleblower, Mr. Michael Achimugu, who has provided the nation with evidence of letters of appointment by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, emails, documents, audio clips, sworn affidavit and his direct oral evidence as to how Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who happens to be the Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), 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 as “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 pay monies into these companies and use those monies to fund the PDP and their private businesses and family activities.

”I 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.

”However, facts are sacred. The facts so far presented to the world clearly indicate that Atiku Abubakar has a case to answer. In other climes when such serious allegations arose in the middle of campaigns, the law-enforcement agencies acted decisively.

“Recall, in 2016, in the middle of campaigns for the exalted office of the Presidency of the United States, the FBI opened investigation into allegation of misuse of private emails against Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State. In fact, the case was referred to the Justice Department for likely prosecution few weeks to actual voting.

“TAKE NOTICE that because this matter is of great national importance, I expect you to act with alacrity and a sense of duty within Seventy-Two (72) hours of the receipt of this petition”, he wrote.

In reaction to the petition and accusation against his principal, media aide to the former VP,  Mr. Dino Melaye descended heavily on Tinubu, accusing him of looting Lagos State, which he governed through SPVs like Alfa Betta Consulting.

He also accused Tinubu of unbridled acquisition and conversion of Lagos State Government properties in Lagos and Abuja into his personal use. He alluded to the space occupied by TVC and Max FM at Ikosi as properties of the Lagos State Government(formerly Lagos State Polytechnic), which he said Tinubu cornered for himself in addition to the Lagos State Laison office in Asokoro, which he said Tinubu has converted into his personal abode.

Dino Melaye also alluded to Tinubu’s record as a drug lord who forfeited over $400,000 to the government of the United States in a narcotic deal to prevent prosecution and eventual conviction, and issues of certificate forgery and perjury.

He also called for arrest and prosecution of Tinubu for corruption and dealing in heroine, substance prohibited under the law.

Nigerians have been reacting following these sterling revelations as both parties embark on this dog eat dog imbroglio.

Moris Monye puts it this way, “Keyamo to PDP: Atiku is a thief and we call on security agencies to arrest him immediately and come for trial. Dino to APC: You too, you stole. Tinubu house in Asokoro is for Lagos state, TVC sits on Lagos property. Tinubu too stole. Look at the candidates of the two big parties. Confusion in the camps of Nigeria’s enemies. Who say God, Allah and the gods are not with us… praise! praise!! praiseeeee the Lord”, he said.

For Adebola Adeboye, it is nothing but “Mutual admissions of stealing being aired now for the hitherto Doubting Thomases to know. ALLAH remains Supreme on all affairs. Hence the three of HIS ninety nine exalted names in the Holy Qur’ãn”,he said, while Uncle Mike said whatever APC is saying about PDP is true, whatever PDP is saying about APC is also true.

But Mr. Do Good  believes this crossfire as a defining moment for the Nigerian youths to embark on sober reflection. “Embarrassingly they have youths supporting them. People that are stealing their future away”, he warned.

Ikpe Nyong says it is very shameful that till date Nigerian political parties can’t present unique and modest candidates for election, so now we’ve deviated from asking questions about what this guy’s have to offer to pointing who has a more or less criminal record.  “Sad era in our democracy”!,  he exclaimed.

But Daniel Alabi appealed to the conscience of Nigerians:  “Where is our conscience as human being…even with all these obvious facts of theft, embezzlements, misconducts & misappropriation to mention few, some Nigerians still wish to cast their vote for them, even the educated”, he wondered.

Humphery Obadere  sees the development as a very sad one. “The 2 supposed leading candidates. It’s a case of who’s more corrupt. These are supposed to be the men that the over 200 million Nigerians are supposed to put their lives in their hands. The world is watching. Nigeria is becoming a joke daily”, he said,  while Elendu Victor described the two as a group of criminals. “These are the kind of people some fathers and mothers are clamouring to vote for, saying they have structure, sometimes I feel Nigeria is just the Hell we read in the bible, because abnormalities are what is supported in this country”, he noted.

Monnyx  notes,  “both aspirant APC and PDP are shameless, men of questionable characters, they both have criminals records e.g Money launderers, fraudsters, oil thieves,  bigots, criminals etc.  In a sane country, Atiku and Tinubu should be serving life sentence not campaigning. Vile and Heartless aspirants”, he said.