Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, has slammed his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakr, for recent comments against him.
Recall that the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation’s spokesman, Kola Ologbodiyan, described Tinubu on Wednesday as an artful dodger attempting to divert attention away from his crimes by carrying out character assassination on Atiku.
Tinubu responded by asking Atiku, speaking through the APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), to come clean on allegations of money laundering and other charges involving a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) account he used as vice president between 1999 and 2007.
In a statement issued Wednesday night by its Director of Media and Publicity, Bayo Onanuga, the APC PCC urged the PDP to come clean on the allegations against his presidential candidate if the party has any respect for Nigerians and cares about Nigerian youths and future free of corruption.
Instead of defending its presidential candidate, the PDP went on a puerile diversionary journey, according to Onanuga, by drumming up a stale allegation against Tinubu.
He called the PDP’s attack on Tinubu a “shameless skirting of issues,” adding that it will force the PDP’s flag bearer to answer to all corruption allegations levelled against him by his former media aide, Michael Achimugu.
Onanuga, on the other hand, asked Atiku to drop out of the presidential race and urged the relevant anti-corruption authorities to hold him accountable.
The statement reads:
The issues the Nigerian people want the PDP and its candidate to address are simple.
They are: Was the whistleblower, Michael Achimugu, who swore to an oath, employed by Atiku?
Did Atiku make a scandalous confession in a telephone conversation on how he and his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo set up SPVs, such as Marine Float, to steal public money? Was the taped voice not Atiku’s?
It is obvious that the PDP presidential candidate has no defence to these allegations, which he admitted in his viral confession.
This was the reason we boldly made the call on him to beat the path of honour, for once, by withdrawing from the presidential race. We also urged the authorities to hold him to account.
But the hangers-on and dependants who saw his withdrawal as an end to the campaign bazaar in desperation resorted to painting the kettle black to look like their pot.
This resort to counter-mudslinging is not only an admission of criminal guilt, it is an irresponsible way to cover-up the concrete evidence of conspiracy and corruption.
How can PDP pretend that Atiku is innocent of the allegations when even General Olusegun Obasanjo, his boss and collaborator had documented Atiku’s legendary corruption in his book and had sworn never to support Atiku’s presidential ambition to avoid the wrath of God.
The cocktail of lies and tales by the PDP against APC presidential candidate did not disclose any witness to their dredged allegations.
The regurgitated allegations cited have either been thrown away by the court or the deponent , like in the case of Alpha Beta had withdrawn the untried and untested allegations.
The former MD of Alpha Beta had even gone ahead in recent advertorials to endorse the APC presidential candidate as the best man for the job.
On the contrary, a patriotic citizen, against all existential dangers, has stepped forward to confront Atiku with allegations deposed in an affidavit.
If the PDP has any modicum of respect for Nigerians, if it has any concern for the Nigerian youths and a future without corruption, it should come clean on these allegations and stop dancing around the real issues.