From Cyril Mbah, Abuja
Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has accused ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo of running a 20-year campaign of lies, political manipulation and orchestrated deceit against him, noting however that the plot is “falling apart like a pack of cards.”
In a statement issued on Sunday by Paul Ibe, Media Adviser to Atiku, the former vice president said Obasanjo’s latest allegation on July 23 that Atiku mobilized late Speaker Ghali Umar Na’Abba to impeach him was baseless and timed for political expediency.
The statement noted that Obasanjo made the claim against a man who died nearly three years ago, knowing “the only way that Na’Abba would be able to respond to the malicious allegation is by a divine miracle.”
It cited former House Chief Whip, Hon. Abubakar Bawa Bwari, who said Na’Abba never sought Obasanjo’s removal and insisted that Atiku actually acted as Obasanjo’s envoy to lawmakers during the 1999-2007 period.
On the widely circulated claim that Obasanjo knelt for Atiku to secure a second term, the statement referenced a 2003 video of former Abia Governor, Senator Orji Kalu, saying it was Atiku who knelt before 17 PDP governors to affirm loyalty to Obasanjo.
“Atiku knelt down, we were like 17 governors. He knelt down for us and said that he does not want to be disloyal to Obasanjo. That four years is like four days,” Kalu was quoted then as saying.
The statement further quoted Kalu as saying PDP governors were the ones plotting to upstage Obasanjo over his “dictatorial tendencies” and had even postponed the PDP convention to make Atiku president, but Atiku refused to betray his boss.
Atiku’s camp also revisited the 2007 PTDF probe, recalling that Obasanjo wrote to the Senate to investigate Atiku over alleged diversion of funds. Atiku, it said, waived his immunity and appeared before investigators, insisting the funds were in fixed deposits and that the charges were politically motivated over his opposition to a third term.
Quoting from the autobiography _Awujale_ by the late Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona, the statement alleged that Obasanjo used the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), under Nuhu Ribadu to harass Globacom Chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga, in an attempt to link him to Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), funds. The book said Adenuga was forced into exile in London before returning at a later date.
The statement concluded by stating that Adenuga secured a loan from BNP Paribas Bank paid through New York for the Globacom licence, contrary to Obasanjo’s claim, and it accused the former President of hypocrisy for later soliciting Adenuga’s help to build the administration block at Bells University while still in office.
