Atiku Abubakar, the former vice president and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has claimed that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is to blame for the devaluation of the naira.
By insisting that “Tinubu is the mastermind of the new naira notes crunch who had made the people suffer untold hardship ever known in our national history,” Atiku’s campaign also painted Tinubu as the real enemy of Nigerians.
The Aitku Campaign claimed that Tinubu had engaged in high-level criminal activity by undermining the system, intercepting, and diverting millions of new naira notes intended for distribution to Nigerians for his own gain in a statement released by one of its spokespersons, Kola Ologbondiyan, on Friday.
The statement read “It is indeed despicable that Tinubu, knowing that he has been exposed of being criminally responsible for the biting cash crunch on Nigerians, is seeking to divert public attention from his heinous crime by criticizing Atiku Abubakar’s widely applauded patriotic call for the extension of currency swap deadline
“Our campaign challenges the APC Presidential Candidate to come clean on allegations that he has been using his various criminal Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) Companies as well as fraudulent officials in some APC-led States to intercept and mop up cash to the detriment of millions of Nigerians.
“In the desperation to cover his tracks, Tinubu, in his elements, as the Nigerian “Artful Dodger”, has mounted a campaign of calumny against the Federal Government on the scarcity of the naira while secretly intercepting and diverting the notes for his selfish use.
“It is despicable that the Tinubu Campaign will be engaged in the activities that are responsible for the scarcity of the naira, for which Nigerians are suffering untold distress, yet he mounts the soap box to create the impression that he is the champion of the people.
“It is also worrisome that the person claiming to be concerned about the plight of Nigerians is the one responsible for their woes and at the same time urging them towards insurrection.
“In any case, we are not surprised that the APC presidential Candidate can engage in such alleged shady activities against Nigerians given his reputation as a “bullion van” politician as well as a long record of alleged frauds, including reported looting of Lagos assets as well as trafficking in narcotic for which he was convicted and made to forfeit the sum of $460,000 to the United States.
“Our campaign urges Tinubu to own up to the frustration that Nigerians are presently confronting and stop shedding his usual crocodile tears.
“Moreover, it is clear that the Tinubu Campaign has taken to this despicable route in its desperation to incite Nigerians, trigger crisis, and position Tinubu as the liberator.
“Nigerians are not unaware that Tinubu has bluntly refused to advise this administration on the negatives of its policies just because he (Tinubu) wanted it to fail to enable him to appear as a messiah.
“It is absurd that Tinubu prioritized his ambition above the wellbeing of over 200 million Nigerians on behalf of whom Atiku Abubakar appealed to the Federal Government to ameliorate the situation and ensure that the new naira notes are made available to the people.
“Nigerians have only but pity for the APC Presidential Candidate as all his machinations to malign Atiku Abubakar had always failed in the face of the truth”.
The campaign organizations charged Tinubu to immediately make confessions, offer restitution, and ask for forgiveness from Nigerians.