Described as comical President Buhari’s town hall meeting with Kadara Ahmed and broadcast on NTA, yesterday
By Ayo Kehinde
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has arrived Washington DC, the administrative capital of the USA. He is the country to honour and invitation by the Chamber of Commerce for a meeting on Friday, January 18. The Chamber and the African Business Centre business would host the business roundtable.
Atiku, who had a whistle-stop meeting with the business community in Lagos on Tuesday flew out on Wednesday to meet the invitation. His sudden trip rest many weeks of speculation and politicking surrounding suitability to travel the United States of America following his alleged connection with circumstances surrounding an Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, investigation of a bribery scandal involving a fomer US congressman, William Jefferson. But the US government recently said they had nothing incriminating against Atiku Abubakar and accordingly issued him with a visa in December 2018.
Following its investigation of Jefferson, the FBI had searched Atiku’s residence in the Potomac, Maryland, but no money was found.
Even the videotape showing Jefferson receiving $100,000 worth of $100 bills, which he claimed was meant for Atiku, had no trace of Nigeria’s former Vice-President, who had consistently denied the allegation.
His trip to that country had been a major campaign issue in Nigeria, with Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed tacking out time to address a press congress during which he cautioned the move by America to issue Atiku with a visa as amounting to endorsing his presidential candidacy.
Functionaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has dared Atiku to travel to the US if he was indeed free from the allegation of demanding a bribe of $500,000 to facilitate the award of contracts to two American telecommunication firms in Nigeria, the said genesis of the Jefferson investigation.
Meanwhile, Atiku has described yesterday’s appearance of President Muhammadu Buhari at a town hall meeting hosted by Kadaria Ahmed and broadcast on the Nigerian Television Authority, as a a comedy of errors.
In a statement by his Media Adviser, Mazi Paul Ibe, Atiku said Buhari had confirmed his views that the government has always been fighting opponents rather than fighting corruption
“When confronted with the fact that he has not spoken to condemn the obvious corruption of his crony, the Kano State Governor, Umar Ganduje, Buhari defended himself by saying that he was bound by law to maintain his silence.
His actual words were: “The State Assembly is investigating and they have the mandate to deal with it and they have also gone to court, so I decided not to talk about it.”
“We find this excuse untenable because the President has not shown this level of restraint when condemning the alleged corruption of others who happen not to be members of his party, the APC.
“On many occasions, President Buhari has pre-judicially commented on the cases of non APC members and even acted as judge and jury by convicting them with his utterances in Nigeria and abroad. These cases are too numerous to mention but include his utterances on Sambo Dasuki, former Governor Ayo Fayose and a former head of state, whom he said ‘did not steal’ despite several court convictions that established that he did.
“This partiality of the President is most disturbing, as it is proof positive that he is fighting the opposition and not corruption. Perhaps this is why Transparency International’s latest Corruption Perception Index has established that Nigeria is more corrupt today, under President Buhari, than before he was sworn in on May 29, 2015 (and not May 19, 2015, as he claimed in Kogi).
“Quite strangely, President Buhari, however, did not allow Ganduje’s pending court case stop him from praising his crony, the Kano Governor when he went to Paris in November of last year.
“Even further damaging was the President’s defence of another of his cronies, Babachir Lawal, whom he said cannot be charged because of a lack of evidence. We are embarrassed for the President that he could make such a public faux pas.
Mr. Babachir Lawal was caught red-handed. Monies meant for Internally Displaced Persons were traced to his bank accounts after he awarded his company an inflated contract. His hand was literally caught in the cookie jar. He was investigated by the Senate and indicted for his misdemeanour. We are thus nonplussed by the President’s comments requesting for evidence before he can move against Mr. Lawal.
The question is this: does being members of the All Progressive Congress confer the President’s cronies with immunity for their crimes?
Both the money that Governor Umar Ganduje was shown on camera receiving as bribes and the funds siphoned by Mr. Babachir Lawal, could have been used to create jobs for Nigerians or in providing educational and health infrastructure to address the world record poverty now affecting Nigeria.
“For these monies to be collected and used to create jobs, we urge Nigerians to vote for the PDP candidate, because Atiku means JOBS. Atiku would fight corruption whether in his party or in the opposition and ensure that Nigeria’s wealth is used for the benefit of the many rather than the few cronies of Mr. President as is the case today.”
