Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to investigate and prosecute him if it has evidence linking him to alleged wrongdoing in the controversial $16 billion power sector expenditure.
Atiku said there was no justification for the allegations against him to keep resurfacing decades after he left office if successive administrations had credible evidence of wrongdoing.
He made the remarks in a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
The former Vice President accused the Tinubu administration and its supporters of reviving old allegations as a distraction from growing calls for accountability over funds generated following the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Atiku said the National Assembly had previously investigated the power projects but that he was never invited to respond to any allegations against him.
“I chaired the National Council on Privatisation as Vice President, but I did not oversee the implementation of the power projects. The responsible minister did,” he said.
He maintained that the same applied to the Aluminium Smelter matter, adding that he had repeatedly made himself available for investigation whenever credible allegations were raised against him.
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) challenged the government to produce evidence, saying he was prepared to face prosecution if a case could be established against him.
“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,” Atiku said.
He further accused the administration of using the allegations to divert attention from the economic hardship Nigerians have experienced since the removal of the petrol subsidy.
According to Atiku, Nigerians were told that ending the subsidy would free up resources for development, but the policy had instead been accompanied by rising living costs.
He also questioned how the additional government revenue generated since the subsidy removal was being utilised.
“So, our question remains brutally simple: where is the people’s money?” he asked.
Atiku also criticised the continued use of fiscal incentives, waivers, tax credits and concessions for major economic interests, describing the situation as a double standard in government policy.
He argued that while reliefs previously available to ordinary Nigerians had been removed, interventions benefiting powerful economic interests continued to be defended as incentives.
The former Vice President dismissed attacks against him on social media, saying they would not deter him from demanding accountability or advocating policies aimed at improving 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.
Atiku called on the government to either present evidence and prosecute him or stop what he described as attempts to use old allegations as political distractions.
“You removed the subsidy. You collected the savings. Where is the money?” he queried.
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