Atiku Dares Tinubu over $16bn Power Sector Fund Probe

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has dared the President Bola Tinubu administration to investigate him (Atiku) over allegations of wrongdoing in the $16 billion power sector fund, saying recycled accusations should not be used to avoid accountability for subsidy savings.

Reacting on Wednesday through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the sudden revival of old allegations on power, privatisation and public assets as a ploy to divert attention from pressing questions about the management of public resources.

“The National Assembly investigated the power projects. I was never invited to answer any allegation of wrongdoing,” Atiku said.

“Yes, I chaired the National Council on Privatisation as Vice President. But on the power project, I disagreed with its concept and did not preside over its implementation. The responsible minister did. The same applies to the Aluminium Smelter matter.”

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) said he had consistently called for investigation into any claim against him since leaving office in 2007.

“I have repeatedly asked to be investigated. I left office in 2007 and have spent much of the period since then opposing governments in power. If there is evidence that I stole public money, why has no government produced it before a court?

“It is still not too late. Investigate me. Invite me. Produce the evidence. Prosecute me if you have a case. But propaganda cannot substitute for evidence,” he said.

Atiku argued that the attacks intensified because he has been demanding transparency on the funds saved from fuel subsidy removal.

“They removed subsidy from the poor and promised that the sacrifice would free resources for development. Nigerians accepted extraordinary pain on that promise.

“Today, petrol is more expensive, transportation is more expensive, food is more expensive and the purchasing power of the Nigerian worker has been devastated.

“Meanwhile, government revenues have increased, while fiscal incentives, waivers, tax credits and concessions continue to be available to powerful economic interests.

“So our question remains brutally simple: Where is the people’s money?” he asked.

According to him, government cannot withdraw relief from ordinary Nigerians while granting concessions to the wealthy and then claim that intervention for the poor is “economically irresponsible.”

“You cannot take relief away from the poor, celebrate the resulting revenue and then tell the same impoverished citizens that government intervention on their behalf is economically irresponsible while interventions benefiting powerful interests are called incentives. That hypocrisy is precisely what we are challenging,” Atiku stated.

He said no amount of “sponsored social-media mudslinging” would silence him from demanding accountability.

“The people who removed subsidy from the poor cannot frighten us into silence by resurrecting allegations that governments with all the investigative machinery of the Nigerian state have had nearly two decades to establish.

“If you have evidence against Atiku, bring it. If you have a case, prosecute it.

“But if you have neither, stop manufacturing distractions and answer Nigerians: You removed the subsidy. You collected the savings. Where is the money?”