Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the Tinubu administration and its supporters to produce evidence of wrongdoing against him and invite him for investigation rather than recycle decades-old allegations whenever uncomfortable questions are raised about the management of Nigeria’s resources.
Mr Atiku said the sudden resurrection of allegations concerning the power sector, privatisation and public assets was a predictable attempt to divert attention from the question confronting the Tinubu administration: where is the money accruing to government after subsidy was removed from ordinary Nigerians?
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Mr Atiku said Nigerians should recognise the coordinated attempt to change the subject from the economic hardship confronting millions of families to allegations that had been repeatedly thrown around without prosecution.
“The National Assembly investigated the power projects. I was never invited to answer any allegation of wrongdoing.
“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.
“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.”
Mr Atiku said the attempt to resurrect old accusations intensified because his demand for accountability over the proceeds of subsidy removal struck at the heart of the Tinubu administration’s economic narrative.
He stated, “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?
“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.”
Mr Atiku said no amount of sponsored social-media mudslinging would make him retreat from demanding accountability or from proposing economic policies that restore purchasing power to Nigerians.
“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?”
