The war of words between President-elect, Bola Tinubu and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 election, continued yesterday with Tinubu describing Atiku as a serial loser and an unstable politician who could not have won the poll.
Atiku, however, replied by taunting the president-elect as a man trying to run away from his alleged past drug deals and forfeiture of $460,000 in the US.
Atiku lambasted Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for claiming that he was never under investigation for drug related case in the US, but that only the funds in his bank accounts were under probe.
He charged the President-elect to explain to Nigerians how he was able to deposit millions of dollars one year after opening bank accounts while earning a salary of $2,500 at Mobil Oil.
However, Tinubu, in his response to a petition filed by Atiku before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) challenging his victory, prayed the tribunal to ignore Atiku and his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Tinubu also insisted he was not a product of corrupt and fraudulent election, arguing that there was no way the PDP presidential candidate could have won the February poll given that he had always lost in previous attempts since 1993.
He also argued that in view of the division in the PDP prior to the election, it would have been a miracle for Atiku and PDP to have been victorious.
In the response filed through his lead counsel, Wole Olanikpekun (SAN), Tinubu also submitted that a candidate who scored majority of the votes cast at a presidential election and secured one-quarter of the votes cast at the election in at least two-thirds of all the states in the federation, need not obtain 25 per cent of votes cast in the FCT to be declared winner of the election.
He said: “The 1st petitioner (Atiku) has been consistently contesting and losing successive presidential elections in Nigeria since 1993, whether at the party primary level or at the general election, including 1993 when he lost the Social Democratic Party (SDP) primary election to late Chief M.K.O Abiola; 2007 when he lost the presidential election to the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua; 2011, when he lost the Peoples Democratic Party presidential primary election to President Goodluck Jonathan; 2015, when he lost the APC primary election to President Muhammadu Buhari; 2019, when he lost the presidential election to President Muhammadu Buhari; and now, 2023, when he has again lost the presidential election to the 2nd respondent, Tinubu.”
Tinubu said it was therefore not surprising that Atiku lost the February 25 poll. He noted that Atiku was without a stable political platform and had lost majority of his key supporters given his habit of jumping from one political party to another.
On the other hand, Tinubu said he “has always been a most consistent politician, who has not shifted political tendency and alignment.”
Tinubu equally noted that Atiku’s emergence as PDP’s candidate fueled the crisis in the party, resulting in five of its sitting governors (Rivers, Oyo, Enugu, Abia and Benue) resolving to work against him and ensure he lost. He told the tribunal that he was duly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the presidential poll and scored the highest number of votes as well as one quarter of lawful votes at the election in each of at least two-thirds of all the states in the federation.
He further submitted that INEC did not suppress votes for him or his party, neither did it inflate his scores as alleged by the petitioners.
The president-elect also faulted the competence of the petition, describing it as not only frivolous, but an abuse of the process of court, the PDP having earlier filed a suit at the Supreme Court, through some of its governors, demanding the cancellation of the election.
You’re trying to deceive Nigerians – Atiku
Nevertheless, Atiku countered Tinubu for trying to deceive Nigerians by presenting the $460,000 forfeiture case in the US as one relating to tax evasion and not drug charges. The former vice president told Tinubu that he cannot run away from his past.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said after the lies told by Tinubu and his surrogates, the truth had finally been unravelled through the processes filed by the APC at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.
He said: “Festus Keyamo had gone on national television to say that Tinubu’s forfeiture of $460,000 was based on tax obligations. At least they have now finally admitted that the forfeiture was in relation to a drug trafficking case even though Tinubu did not admit guilt. But what has been established is that Justice John Nordberg ordered on October 4, 1993 that the funds in the amount of $460,000 held in First Heritage Bank in the name of Bola Tinubu represent the proceeds of narcotics trafficking or were involved in financial transactions in violation of 18 U.S. 1956 and 1957.
“Tinubu should know that he cannot outrun his past. He was investigated in relation to heroin trafficking. He had millions of dollars in his account while on a salary of $2,500 monthly, and he forfeited part of it in order to escape jail. These are the facts. Elections are over, and he should stop lying to Nigerians.”
Shaibu said Keyamo’s lack of understanding of the legal proceedings was one of the reasons he failed as a prosecutor with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“Festus Keyamo’s law degree really needs to be investigated. One wonders how he even became a senior advocate. He went on national television to say the $460,000 was a fine for not paying taxes. Now, Tinubu is telling the Election Petition Tribunal that the money in question was forfeited as part of a court decree in relation to his drug case. No wonder Keyamo lost so many high profile cases with the EFCC while he was a prosecutor,” Shaibu said.
While knocking Tinubu for claiming that he was not under investigation, but only the funds in his bank accounts were under probe, Shaibu asked Tinubu to explain to Nigerians how he was able to deposit millions of dollars one year after opening bank accounts while earning a salary of $2,500 at Mobil.
“Elections are over, but Tinubu is still trying to deceive Nigerians. Is he saying the millions of dollars found in his account just magically appeared there just as how his aide said on live television that the bullion van found on his premises ahead of the 2019 poll erroneously found their way there? Tinubu should stop taking Nigerians for a ride. Let him explain the business he did in order to have such a humongous sum of money in his account.”
Shaibu said a Tinubu presidency would represent a setback in the fight against narcotics, given his antecedents and his open admission that he lived with known drug kingpins.
Shaibu implored the US authorities to set aside diplomatic protocols and furnish the Nigerian judiciary with all information relating to the trial and verdict of the US investigation of Tinubu over drug dealings and his forfeiture of the sum of 460,000 US dollars during his conviction.
“The US should not associate with electoral thieves by merely stating whether he is still under probe or not. We need in-depth details of this corn-man,” Shaibu said.
Credit: Daily Sun