Nothing short of the immediate arrest and prosecution of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), over the recent revelation, alleging that he connived with former President, Olusegun Obasanjo to engage in massive fraud during their time in office, would be enough to assuage the postion of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The ruling party, is insisting that since the duos were no longer covered by immunity, they should be subjected to intense investigation, arrested and prosecuted, given the admittance of wrongdoing by the former VP as recorded in a tape made public by a former spokesman, last week.
Michael Achimugu, who claimed to be a spokesman to Atiku, had, in a video he released last week, that the former VP, had given him details of how he set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), with approval from Obasanjo, through which they built a slush fund by siphoning money from the nation’s public till.
Latching on the disclosure, The Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Organisation (TTSCO), told reporters in Abuja, on Monday that Atiku must be arrested and prosecuted, but for starters, the PDP flagbearer must resign from the campaigns and contesting the nation’s number one job because of the nature of the allegation.
Insisting that the Waziri Adamawa, had since lost his immunity, the spokesmen manning the APC Presidential Campaign Council (APC-PCC), in different positions, at a joint interaction with the media, urged Atiku to resign his candidature and apologise to Nigerians for allegedly using private accounts to siphon monies from the public treasury.
Those at the briefing, which included Dele Alake, Festus Keyamo, Bayo Onanuga, Femi Fani-Kayode, and Idris Mohammed, said the next step if their demands were not met, would be to pursue legal means to seek redress, particularly Atiku’s disqualification from the elections next month for alleged corruption.
Specifically, Achimugu had claimed that Atiku, had used the SPV platform to accept N100million from former Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, who recently regained his freedom after serving prison terms, following his conviction for the misappropriation of the Ecological Fund in his state.
Dariye, who was one of the governors impeached by their state Houses of Assembly, during the reign of the PDP at the national level, was also one of those pardoned by President Muhammadu Buhari, a gesture that received a lot of condemnations from some sections of the Nigerian public. Before now, the Atiku camp, had made light of the allegation, with Dino Melaye, spokesman of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council (PDP-PCC), dismissing it as small talk from paid agents of the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, while Phrank Shaibu, spokesman to Atiku, dismissing it also as “hear say,” adding: “At the appropriate time, we would issue a statement.”