Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the administration of President Bola Tinubu to investigate and prosecute him if it has evidence linking him to any wrongdoing in the controversial $16 billion power sector expenditure.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), 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 demand 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 to divert attention from growing demands for accountability over funds generated from the removal of petrol subsidy.
Atiku said the National Assembly had previously investigated the power projects but that he was never invited to respond to any allegation of wrongdoing.
“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 said the same applied to the Aluminium Smelter matter, maintaining that he had repeatedly called for an investigation into any credible allegation against him.
Atiku said he remained willing to face prosecution if evidence was produced.
“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 said.
He further accused the government of using the renewed allegations to divert attention from the economic hardship Nigerians have experienced since the removal of petrol subsidy.
According to him, Nigerians were promised that ending the subsidy would free up funds for development, but citizens have instead been confronted with rising living costs.
The ADC candidate also questioned how the additional revenue generated following the subsidy removal was being managed.
“So, our question remains brutally simple: where is the people’s money?” Atiku asked.
He also questioned the continued use of fiscal incentives, waivers, tax credits and concessions for powerful economic interests, accusing the administration of applying a double standard by removing relief for poor Nigerians while defending interventions for powerful interests as investment incentives.
Atiku dismissed social media attacks against him, insisting that 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.
He challenged the government to either present evidence against him and prosecute him or stop what he described as attempts to manufacture distractions.
“You removed the subsidy. You collected the savings. Where is the money?” he queried.
