The Peoples Democratic Party Campaign Council has demanded an unreserved apology from its All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart over allegation of corruption levelled against its candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The council also accused the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, of corruption while serving as governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007.
The APC Presidential Campaign Council had on Monday, at a press conference, given the EFCC and the ICPC 72 hours to arrest Atiku over an allegation of corruption made against him (Atiku) by one Michael Achimugu, who claimed to be a former aide to the former vice president.
Mr Achimugu had claimed that Atiku formed the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) which he used to fleece the federal government.
Mr Keyamo, who addressed the conference, later said on a national television programme the following day, that he was willing to drop from the campaign council to prosecute Atiku.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, a spokesperson of the PDP campaign, Kola Ologbondiyan, said Mr Tinubu , not Atiku, was the real SPV, because of his alleged involvement in looting Lagos treasury while in office.
Mr Ologbondiyan said that the allegation against Atiku was to distract the party and divert its attention from winning the election.
He said the PDP will not be distracted by the antics of the APC in its quest to win the 2023 presidential election.
He said that the party and its campaign council would continue to rally with Nigerians in the collective desire to restore the nation to the path of purposeful leadership and prosperity for all.
“However, no matter how much falsehood appears to thrive, the truth will always prevail at the end of the day,” he said.
Mr Ologbondiyan urged the APC to tender an unreserved apology to Abubakar over the unsubstantiated allegation.
He added, “Like the age-long aphorism states, those who dig pits for the innocent always fall into them. This is the case in the vexatious plots by Asiwaju Tinubu to divert attention from his litany of atrocities by seeking to impugn on the impeccable character of our candidate, Atiku Abubakar, with unfounded controversy of corruption.
READ ALSO: Corruption Allegation: Tinubu can’t stop me from prosecuting Atiku — Keyamo
“Bola Tinubu, sensing that his many alleged corrupt activities, especially his fleecing of Lagos State with many Special Purpose Vehicle companies was about to come to light, rushed to allegedly hire a serial blackmailer, as he has always done, to foul the public space with fabricated allegations against Atiku Abubakar.”
The PDP campaign spokesperson asked Mr Tinubu to come out clean and speak to these damning money laundering allegations against him, adding that he should explain to Nigerians “how billions of naira belonging to Lagos State and meant for the welfare of the people, reportedly found its way into soft alliance and ended in bits and pieces in foreign currencies into domiciliary accounts allegedly owned by him in commercial banks.”
He stressed “We also challenge Asiwaju Tinubu to explain to Nigerians how, as Lagos State governor, he awarded the exclusive right of tax collection in Lagos State to his alleged proxy company, Alpha Beta, as well as the allegations that the SPV was used to allegedly siphon over N100bn belonging to Lagos State,” he said.
“If anyone is to be arrested and disqualified from the presidential race on account of corruption, certainly, that person is not Atiku Abubakar but Bola Tinubu.”
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