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Atiku Lambasts Tinubu Presidency Over Comparison With China, Digs Out Several Failures
Atiku Lambasts Tinubu Presidency Over Comparison With China, Digs Out Several Failures
POLITICS
The Nigerian Record
7/26/20263 min read
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the Bola Tinubu-led Presidency over its decision to invoke China's legal system while defending Tinubu, arguing that the comparison had instead reignited public scrutiny of allegations surrounding the President's past.
In a statement issued on Saturday through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the Nigerian presidency's argument as a "monumental own goal," saying its attempt to discredit him had instead exposed President Tinubu to tougher public questions.
The statement followed an earlier exchange between the Presidency and Atiku over reports that his lobbying group in the United States submitted petitions to President Donald Trump and the U.S. State Department regarding President Tinubu's 1993 civil forfeiture case, among other issues.
Reacting to the Presidency's response, Atiku accused the administration of avoiding the substantive issues raised and resorting instead to personal attacks.
"When governments abandon facts for insults and substitute evidence with abuse, they unwittingly admit that they have run out of convincing answers.
"Nigerians expected clarification. What they received instead was a barrage of name-calling and political invective," the statement read.
The 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) argued that the Presidency had undermined its own position by citing China, a country he described as having some of the world's toughest anti-drug laws.
"It takes a peculiar kind of unintelligence for a spokesman to set out to drag an opponent before a hypothetical Chinese court, only to end up dragging his own principal into the dock.
"Perhaps, the spokesman did not realise that the maximum penalty under Chinese law for the most serious drug trafficking offences is death. Having chosen China as his benchmark, he unwittingly invited Nigerians to examine the very standard he thought would embarrass Atiku Abubakar," the statement read in part.
Atiku maintained that he had never been indicted or convicted of corruption, drug-related offences or any other criminal offence either in Nigeria or abroad.
"The facts are neither complicated nor disputable. Atiku Abubakar has never been indicted or convicted by any court in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world for corruption, narcotics offences or, indeed, any criminal offence whatsoever. That is an incontrovertible matter of public record," Shaibu said on behalf of his principal.
The former vice president further argued that if the Tinubu administration wished to use China as a benchmark for accountability, Nigerians were equally entitled to ask how Chinese authorities would have handled "a case involving $460,000 forfeited to the United States Government in a civil forfeiture proceeding concerning funds alleged to be connected to narcotics trafficking and money laundering."
According to the statement, China is known for its strict anti-narcotics laws and uncompromising approach to public accountability.
"China is renowned for its uncompromising approach to narcotics-related offences and public accountability. It is not a jurisdiction where the forfeiture of suspicious proceeds ordinarily marks the end of official scrutiny. More often than not, that is where scrutiny begins," the statement added.
Expanding the comparison beyond narcotics-related issues, Atiku alleged that China's accountability standards would also have resulted in swift action over allegations of corruption and abuse of office.
"Not in China would a president sign into law a national budget immersed in scandals, padding and duplicitous appropriations. Not in China would a President look the other way while a senior presidential aide faces grave allegations of creating a fake government agency. Not in China would a government campaign on Renewed Hope only to deliver renewed hardship to its citizens," he stated.
The former vice president also dismissed the Presidency's reliance on the United States Government's diplomatic response regarding the matter.
"The Presidency should also stop brandishing the United States Government's reply to its diplomatic correspondence as though it were a judicial acquittal. Diplomatic correspondence between sovereign governments is routine. It is neither a judgment of a court, nor a declaration of innocence, nor an instrument for rewriting history," he said.
Atiku concluded by urging the Tinubu administration to prioritise tackling Nigeria's economic and security challenges rather than engaging in what he described as political distractions.