EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has described the corruption allegation against him by his former aide, Michael Achimugu, as “baseless distraction and blackmail”.
Recall, Achimugu had urged Nigerians not to vote for Atiku for the sake of their children and grandchildren, after leaking an alleged recorded phone conversation between him and the former vice president, where the PDP candidate was heard admitting to using “special purpose vehicles (phony companies)” for diversion of public funds during his tenure as vice president under the Olusegun Obasanjo administration from 1999-2007.
In the first of a series of videos released on his YouTube channel, Achimugu revealed Atiku’s explanation for the N100 million allegedly paid into his account by former Plateau State Governor Joshua Dariye.
He explained that the PDP’s flag bearer’s explanation, during a conversation they had, that he had committed corruption indirectly was shocking to him.
He claimed that the Waziri admitted to him that the former Plateau State Governor, Joshua Dariye, paid money into the account of Marine Float, set up and controlled by Atiku or his cronies.
Achimugu also revealed how one of Atiku’s friends appropriated a media company he set up with billions of naira.
Speaking on Atiku’s behalf during an Arise TV interview on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the PDP campaign council, Daniel Bwala said that his principal will not glorify Achimugu and his alleged sponsors by responding to the allegation.
“He (Atiku) will not respond to a baseless distraction ahead of the election. We are making our case to the Nigerian people for election. And in which case, if the people believe in that blackmail, they will express that at the poll,” Bwala told Arise TV.
Bwala continued; “I am not in a position at the moment to deny or confirm that it is the voice of Atiku Abubakar. But what I did and I’ve been doing is that I play the devil’s advocate.
“In the worst-case scenario, even if is the voice of Atiku Abubakar, the question I have asked is that in that communication is the law breached? In that communication, is there an infraction? And then you deal with the substance of the case.
“The only thing that they said in that press statement and wrote in their baseless letter is that in the communication (the leaked phone call), Atiku Abubakar said he floated an SPV (special purpose vehicles) and the SPVs were used in financing the political party’s activities. They tried to say, in all their social media, that SPV is a corrupt practice and so I said that is expression of ignorance.”
Defending Atiku, Bwala said “SPV is a concept in corporate governance of developing or creating a separate entity from an organization or entity by the business venture, where the SPV manages risk.
“SPV is not unlawful (and) not illegal except if the SPV commits illegal acts. So, if Atiku Abubakar said there was an SPV created, where we have consultants (that) when they get a job, they make remittance of support to the party…unless if you can show that crime has been committed, there is no evidence to suggest that in this given scenario that crime has been committed.
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“And Atiku said in that very communication (leaked phone call) that this case has been reported to the EFCC, they have thoroughly investigated it and there is no evidence of a wrongdoing,” he said.
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