The All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has called for the arrest of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, for allegedly embezzling the public funds through the “Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs)”.

The APC campaign council said Atiku, a former Vice President, colluded with his ex-principal, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to fleece the country and steal public funds using the SPVs.

The council stated that the SPVs were companies Atiku registered upon assumption of office as Vice-President, with the approval of Obasanjo using “trusted allies” as shareholders and directors.

It made this known via a statement jointly signed on Monday by its Special Adviser, Media, Communications and Public Affairs, Dele Alake; Director, Public Affairs and Chief Spokesperson, Festus Keyamo; Director, Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga; Director, Special Media Projects/New Media, Femi Fani-Kayode; and Director, Strategic Communications, Idris Mohammed.

The APC Presidential Campaign Council noted that the allegations were revealed by a whistle-blower, Michael Achimugu.

The council alleged that the purpose of establishing the SPVs was to divert government contracts to the companies as “consultants and then paid monies into these companies and used those monies to fund the PDP and their private businesses and family activities.”

“We can all vividly recall that during that tenure, both President Olusegun Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar built the Bells University and American University respectively. Now, we know from where the funds came,” it added.

Quoting the offences against the code of conduct for public officers and offence of money laundering, the APC campaign council said Atiku abused the office of the Nigeria’s Vice President, saying the PDP presidential candidate should be prosecuted.

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The council noted that the former Vice President did not have immunity as a party’s presidential candidate, adding: “We understand that the law enforcement agencies may be reluctant to act simply because of the perception of persecution of a presidential candidate that this may evoke.

“However, facts are sacred. The facts so far presented to the world clearly indicate that Atiku Abubakar has a case to answer. In other climes when such serious allegations arose in the middle of campaigns, the law-enforcement agencies acted decisively.

“In 2016, in the middle of campaigns for the exalted office of the Presidency of the United States, the FBI opened investigation into allegation of misuse of private emails against Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of State.

“In fact, the case was referred to the Justice Department for likely prosecution few weeks to actual voting.

“Though, she was later cleared, it bears restating that a sane and dispassionate system never allowed such side talks to dissuade or distract them from initiating a process of investigation. It is the minimum expected in a constitutional democracy. That is what we call on the authorities to do in the case of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.”

The APC Presidential Campaign Council added: “The issue of the Marine Float Account is not new to Nigerians. In the voice note, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar can be heard boasting that the issue of that account was thoroughly investigated by EFCC, yet then he was smart enough to escape.

“However, we note that in 2006, at the height of his public quarrel with Obasanjo over the sharing of money, the same PDP officially asked Atiku Abubakar to refund N500million taken from that account.

“In the circumstance, since the nation now knows that the Marine Float Account and other similar accounts were ‘SPV’ accounts, it follows that all payments made into that account were monies stolen from the public coffers. Therefore, we call on all security agencies to recover all monies withdrawn from that account by anyone for that matter.”

The campaign council further called on Atiku to “immediately” apologise to Nigerians, step down from the presidential race, and surrender himself to the law enforcement agencies over the allegations.

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The council noted that it would, in the next few days, initiate a judicial process seeking the disqualification of Atiku from the presidential race “based on these facts”, stressing that the former Vice President “is clearly ethically challenged, morally damaged for the highest office of the land.”

“We call on the Fourth Estate of the realm to resist the temptation of partisan recruitment this moment, rise to a patriotic call this defining hour and save the nation from this candidate that serially abused his office as Vice-President of Nigeria,” it added.

The APC Presidential Campaign Council, therefore, urged law enforcement agencies in the country to protect Achimugu, stressing that “no harm must befall him or members of his family”.

“We suspect that some goons of Atiku Abubakar are planning to eliminate him and harm members of his family. We shall hold Atiku Abubakar responsible if anything befalls this patriotic Nigerian or members of his family.

“We also encourage him to reveal to Nigerians those ‘earth-shaking’ revelations he is withholding for the sake of this nation and the future of our children,” the campaign council said.

The Star