North consensus candidate: Atiku Abubakar FORMER Vice-President and presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar Monday said he is not afraid of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) institutiing any case against him. .
A group, the National Vanguard for Democracy and Development (NVDD) is asking the Federal Government to re-visit the report of the Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba-led ad hoc committee, which indicted Atiku for allegedly diverting $145 million from the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF).
In a statement by its National Coordinator, Emeka Obinagwu, the NVDD said though the Obasanjo administration failed to act on the Ndoma-Egba report, the onus now lies on the Goodluck Jonathan administration to revisit the case and apply the appropriate sanctions if Atiku is found liable.
"Nigerians are not satisfied that no action has been taken after the Senator Umaru Tsauri-led Review Committee which reappraised the Ndoma-Egba-led ad hoc committee report former President Olusegun Obasanjo but found Atiku wanting”, Obinagwu said.
On Atiku’s denial of any financial wrongdoing in the US reported last weekend, the group said: “Atiku should explain to Nigerians the motive behind the reported sudden relocation of members of his immediate family from the US if he insists that he has no case to answer in that country.”
Atiku, who returned to Abuja from London, told reporters at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, that he is ready for the primaries and confident of winning.
According to a statement by his campaign organisation, the current smear campaigns are intended to distract him from his mission to tackle weak infrastructure, collapsed industries, unemployment, poverty and hunger.
The statement reads: "Reacting to the re-worked allegations of sleaze against him, the PDP presidential aspirant maintained that he is ready for anybody wanting to investigate him.
“He said if he could survive the most intensive and ferocious allegations in the past under the most vindictive president, he couldn’t be perturbed this time around when his political opponents are trying the same dirty tricks.
“He said he is the most investigated politician and he came out clean. The former vice -president said he is ready for the EFCC and that if their past efforts to bring him down didn’t succeed, criminal wrongdoing would not be found against him this time.
“According to him, the timing of the current smear campaigns suggests that his opponents are scared of his competence and the quality of his programmes to tackle the basic challenges facing Nigeria such as deficient infrastructure, unemployment, hunger, declining quality of education and other social crises.”
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