The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has invited the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, over a petition filed against former Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
WITHIN NIGERIA recalls that Keyamo, a spokesperson for the campaign council of the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had in a petition filed in January, called for an investigation into the corruption allegations levelled against Atiku by a former aide, Michael Achimugu.
Keyamo gave anti-graft agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and CCB , 72 hours to investigate, arrest and prosecute Atiku
The CCB, in a letter dated 28 March and signed by its Director of Intelligence, Investigation and Monitoring, Sebastian Gwimi, asked Keyamo to appear at the bureau’s office in Abuja to adopt his petition.
Keyamo is scheduled to appear before the CCB on Friday 21 April.
“This invitation is to enable you adopt the aforementioned petition and to provide any additional information that may be material to this investigation.
“You are requested to come along with one Michael Achimugu, to assist with enquiries regarding the attachments to your petition,” the letter reads.
Recall that Achimugu, who claimed to be a former aide of Atiku, in a series of social media posts, accused Atiku of using Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) to commit financial fraud.
Keyamo, at the end of the expiration of the 72 hours ultimatum, filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking an order compelling the security agencies to arrest Atiku.
The minister shared the CCB’s invitation letter and a statement from his law firm, Festus Keyamo Chambers on the matter via his Twitter timeline on Thursday.
The statement, issued by John Anietor, said Keyamo will see the case to a logical conclusion, noting that it is not a political gimmick.
“The Bureau has invited our client Mr Festus Keyamo to come forward to adopt his petition and to help it to secure the presence of the whistleblower, Mr Michael Achimugu to assist in the investigation. See a copy of the letter below.
“Mr Keyamo assures that the crusade for accountability in respect of this issue was not a campaign gimmick as he promises to follow it through to a logical conclusion, even after the victory of the President-Elect, ASIWAJU Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
The spokesperson for the Atiku Campaign, Daniel Bwala, said that the invitation by the CCB was a formality to allow Keyamo to adopt his petition, PREMIUM TIMES reports.
He described the petition as “frivolous”, “fictitious” and “dead on arrival”.
He added that Keyamo wrote the petition ahead of the election “for the optics and nothing more”.
Atiku is currently challenging the outcome of the 25 February presidential election that produced Mr Tinubu as the president-elect.