By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged President Bola Tinubu to produce evidence of wrongdoing against him over the controversial $16 billion power sector expenditure, insisting that he should be investigated and prosecuted if there is a genuine case against him.
Atiku, in a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, accused the Tinubu administration and its supporters of resurrecting decades-old allegations as a diversion from growing demands for accountability over the management of funds saved from the removal of petrol subsidy.
The former Vice President said the renewed focus on the power sector, privatisation and public assets was an attempt to change the subject at a time Nigerians were demanding to know what had happened to the resources accruing to government after subsidy was removed.
“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 during his tenure as Vice President but maintained that he did not oversee the implementation of the power project.
“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”, he added.
The Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress ADC argued that the renewed allegations were coming amid his sustained criticism of the government’s handling of the economic consequences of petrol subsidy removal.
According to him, Nigerians were told that the removal of subsidy would free resources for development, but citizens had instead been subjected to higher living costs.
“Today, petrol is more expensive, transportation is more expensive, food is more expensive and the purchasing power of the Nigerian worker has been devastated”, he said.
Atiku further questioned the management of increased government revenues, alleging that fiscal incentives, waivers, tax credits and concessions remained available to powerful economic interests.
“So our question remains brutally simple: where is the people’s money?” he asked.
He accused the administration of hypocrisy for withdrawing what he described as relief from poor Nigerians while defending interventions for powerful economic interests as incentives.
Atiku also dismissed what he described as sponsored social-media attacks, insisting that the allegations would not stop him from demanding accountability or advocating policies aimed at restoring Nigerians’ purchasing power.
“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,” he said.
“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?”, he queried.
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