Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has challenged the Bola Tinubu administration to investigate and prosecute him if it has evidence linking him to any wrongdoing in the controversial $16 billion power sector expenditure.
Atiku said there was no justification for the allegations to keep resurfacing decades after he left office if successive administrations genuinely possessed evidence of misconduct against him.
He made the statement through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.
The former Vice President accused the Tinubu administration and its supporters of recycling old allegations as a distraction from growing calls for accountability over the funds generated from the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Atiku recalled that the National Assembly had previously investigated the power projects but said he was never invited to respond to any allegation of wrongdoing.
“I chaired the National Council on Privatisation as Vice President, but I did not oversee the implementation of the power projects. The responsible minister did,” Atiku said.
He added that the same applied to the Aluminium Smelter matter.
The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) said he had repeatedly challenged authorities to investigate him whenever credible allegations were made against him, insisting that he remained ready to face prosecution if evidence was produced.
“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 also accused the government of reviving the allegations to divert attention from the economic hardship Nigerians have experienced since the removal of the petrol subsidy.
He noted that Nigerians were told the subsidy removal would free up funds for development, but argued that citizens had instead been confronted with rising living costs.
The former Vice President questioned how the additional revenue generated following the subsidy removal was being utilised, particularly amid continued government incentives, waivers, tax credits and concessions for major economic interests.
“So, our question remains brutally simple: where is the people’s money?” Atiku asked.
He accused the administration of operating a double standard by withdrawing economic relief from ordinary Nigerians while defending financial interventions benefiting powerful economic interests as incentives.
Dismissing attacks against him on social media, Atiku said such efforts would not deter him from demanding accountability or advocating policies aimed at improving Nigerians’ purchasing power.
“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 state have had nearly two decades to establish,” he said.
Atiku urged the government to either produce evidence against him and prosecute him or stop what he described as attempts to use old allegations as distractions.
“You removed the subsidy. You collected the savings. Where is the money?” he queried.
