Atikugate: More Trouble For Atiku As APC Gives EFCC, ICPC, CCB 72-Hour Ultimatum To Arrest Him

The presidential campaign of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, has been thrown into serious crisis following a 72-hour ultimatum issued by the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, for his arrest and prosecution for corruption, abuse of office and diversion of public funds.

The APC presidential campaign in a press conference on Monday in Abuja said accusation of financial sleaze against the PDP candidate by his erstwhile media aide, Michael Achimugu, must not be swept under the carpet but investigated to allow for Atiku’s arrest and prosecution.

In a document sighted by THE WHISTLER hours after the press conference, from the office of Festus Keyamo, who is the Chief Spokesman of APCPCC and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, the Economic and Financial Crime Commison, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, ICPC and Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, were given 72 hours to make the arrest.

The petition calling for Atiku’s arrest was received and acknowledged by the EFCC, ICPC and CCB 16 January 2023, the same day Keyamo had promised while speaking on Arise TV that he had sent a petition to some agencies of government to effect the arrest.

Addressed to their chairmen, the APC predicated its petition on “offence against the code of conduct for public officers” and “offence against money laundering.”

Also, the petition accused Atiku of “criminal breach of trust and criminal misrepresentation,” and “offence of conspiracy.”

Recall Michael Achimugu had in a series of documents he revealed against Atiku accused the former vice president of corruptly enriching himself while in government as Nigerian number two.

In an audio Achimugu published, a voice sounding like Atiku could be heard justifying taking public funds for the use of the PDP.

Atiku in the audio allegedly admitted to having collected N100 million from Joshua Dariye, a former Plateau State governor, which was paid directly to Marine Float, one of the three firms he registered.

Atiku admitted in the audio recording that he set up an ‘SPV – Special Purpose Vehicle’ – to receive monies from corruption-related dealings, one of the accounts was alleged to have received the N100 million from Dariye, who was convicted for corruption.

Atiku explained in the audio that, “When the governor sent donations, he sent it to Marine Float. It stayed in Marine Float.

“One of the subscribers of Marine Float was Otunba Fasawe. That was where the N100 million went to. It did not go to Atiku Abubakar. It went to Marine Float. Marine Float was a special-purpose vehicle,” Atiku revealed in the YouTube phone recording revealed by Achimugu.

He further said, “What happened was when we came into office and I advised the president against open corruption.

“I told him to give me three people you trust and I will prepare three companies in which they will be subscribers or rather the directors.

“So that if there is any contract that we give they will act like consultants and they are given a fee. That fee is what we use to fund the party,” Atiku justified the existence and receipt of the funds.

THE WHISTLER has made repeated attempts for comment from the Atiku camp without success. A call on Monday to the spokesman of the Atiku campaign, Ihiedu Aniagwu, was paused and he did not respond to a text message sent to his telephone line.