The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has accused the Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) of sponsoring propaganda in the media against the opposition to the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Mr Abubakar said so in a statement issued on Monday by his media office.
He said the anti-graft agency was collaborating with the presidency, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) using The Nation newspaper platform to create enmity between him and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Some of the allegations levelled against the EFCC and APC include the arraignment of Mr Abubakar’s son-in-law, Babalele Abdullahi, the publication by FIRS of the names of Mr Obasanjo’s farm, Davido Music Worldwide Ltd, and other PDP sympathisers among 19,901 tax defaulters.
PREMIUM TIMES had earlier reported the arrest and arraignment of Mr Babalele by the anti-graft agency on a two-count charge of money laundering allegedly committed in the build-up to the 2019 General Election.
“An action such as this is tantamount to a river denying its own source, since Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is the fountain of origin of the EFCC, seeing as he founded the institution and nurtured it to maturity.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Mallam Babalele Abdullahi, Atiku Abubakar’s son-in-law, did not donate any money in cash to the Olusegun Obasanjo Library.
“Yes, he did facilitate a donation of fifty million naira to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, but so did many other individuals, including civic-minded traditional rulers, state governors, bankers and captains of industry. This is because the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library is a non-governmental organisation that plays a pivotal role in promoting peace and stability in Nigeria, and that should be applauded,” the statement said.
He said President Buhari was criminalising the N50million donation made by his son-in-law to the Obasanjo Presidential library on the ground of grudges and revenge and to silence Mr Obasanjo from speaking against his administration.
“Donations to institutions set up to promote peace in Nigeria and Africa are to be commended, not criminalised. Presidential libraries in America and other parts of the world are similarly funded by donations from civic-minded individuals.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Mallam Abdullahi’s donation of fifty million naira was made via a bank transfer, in full compliance with the law. He did not donate or make any payment in cash, as the EFCC is erroneously and salaciously misleading the public.
“Furthermore, the sources of these funds are completely legitimate and have been conclusively proven to the EFCC. It is instructive to note that even the EFCC has not once claimed these funds to be the proceeds of any illegal activity whatsoever.
“The truth is that there is desperation on the part of the current administration to rope in former President Olusegun Obasanjo into a crime as a way of silencing his voice, which they see as the preeminent critical voice against the misrule that they have foisted on Nigerians.
“This is why they asked the Federal Inland Revenue Service to falsely and libelously include his name in a published list of tax evaders, along with the names of other Peoples Democratic Party sympathisers, such as prominent international singer and pride of Nigeria, Davido, who played a prominent role in PDP’s gubernatorial campaign in Osun state, for which he is being punished.
“We are therefore calling on Nigerians to be watchful for false and misleading stories planted in the media by the EFCC against Atiku Abubakar, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and other persons deemed to be opponents of this government,” he said.
He also cautioned the anti-graft agency against allowing itself to be used as “enforcement arm of the ruling party” rather than an investigative body it was established to be.
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