Opinion
Obasanjo/Atiku SPV Scandal As Reminder to PDP’s 16 Years of the Locusts, By Sola Olatunji
Whistleblower, Mr. Michael Achimugu must have been sent by God to warn Nigerians of the impending danger if we ever make the mistake of going back to Egypt again.
A stitch in time saves nine, people often say, but Achimugu’s video on the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) through which top officials of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration allegedly fleeced the nation as explained by Atiku Abubakar in the audio tape made against both the former vice president and former President is a divine warning that Nigerians should never touch the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, with the longest pole even as the judgement day remains just 30 days.
Michael Achimugu who was Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s media aide, in a recent media expose of his boss who he alleged was in the presidential race to enrich himself and members of his family , alleged that as Nigerians thirst for good governance, and even as discontent swells over power shift brouhaha between North and South as recommended by the National Conference and adopted by the leading political parties in the country, personal ambition of his boss, including those of members of his family, is Atiku’s motivation for his aspiration at the Nigerian Presidency.
He cautioned that voting for his former boss is like a willing and deliberate journey to the Golgotha that offers no hope for redemption, and the safest way for Nigerians is to reject the PDP standard bearer with their PVC at the polls on February 25.
Human rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo has taken the gauntlet against Obasanjo and Atiku insisting that Nigerian security forces must arrest and prosecute the duo inasmuch as the whistleblower gave voice notes and all other supporting documents showing the infractions of the law Atiku allegedly committed as a presidential candidate.
According to Keyamo, Atiku has committed offences against the Code of Conduct for Public Officers under Sections 5,20,13 and 17. And many more!
The APC PCC had also asked anti-graft agencies to arrest the PDP standard bearer, over the illegal account, Special Purpose Vehicle, SPV, he allegedly created as vice president between 1999 and 2007.
Till this moment, nobody from the PDP or Atiku camp has debunked the video excerpt the usual idol of the market place antic of a thief who calls other people, including his accusers, thieves in return. The best they can offer Nigerians in explanation to the criminal stealing of our commonwealth to build personal universities, libraries and state-of-the-art houses abroad is that APC standard bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu too should be probed for his involvement in drugs deal.
The humongous stealing by the duo through the SPV and the family rehearsal by the Atiku’s 36 children to loot Nigeria blind if their father becomes President of Nigeria as also revealed by Achimugu is a timely reminder to the 16 years of the locust when the PDP messed up everything in Nigeria. And now, we are saying ‘Never Again!’
In my view, 1999 was to be a watershed in the history of Nigeria but unfortunately, the military choreographed Obasanjo and Atiku to power as the beneficiary of democratic struggles. In my mind, this duo represents social eclipse in our history as they sold the collective patrimony of Nigerians under the guise of privatization. They destroyed our public institutions, including the University by building universities for themselves through corrupt practices.
All these infractions were carried out when they were in the office and they came out of power stupendously rich, yet these are the people preaching morality, laying claims to moral compass of the society.
Let me quickly add here that former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu warned Nigerians about the corruption in the Obasanjo-Atiku government between 1999 and 2007 but nobody took him seriously. He warned about how Obasanjo was diverting Nigeria’s money to build his university at Otta and also developing his Farm. But it all fell on deaf ears until Kalu was made to bear the brunt alone. His Slok airline was banned from flying in Nigeria over a trump up allegation against one of his pilots. And today Kalu is the economic mainstay of the Gambia having moved the Airline to Dakar.
It’s sad that PDP’s 16 years of misrule was the darkest period in the history of Nigeria. It was a period of privatization of over 130 companies by Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar which has since then put our youths in perpetual unemployment. Add all these to the now famous Dansukigate of $2.1 billion dollars shared among themselves rather than fund the military to combat Boko Haram that had ravaged the north East.
Similarly, more than six years of oil windfall during Goodluck Jonathan was a waste because Nigeria has no legacy project that can be referenced for it and with over 30 states unable to pay salaries when Buhari took over power in 2015.
Today, these professional armed and pen/computer robbers have the effrontery to abuse Buhari that he did not achieve anything. Without fear of contradiction, Buhari remains the best President ever to rule Nigeria since 1960, including the military Heads of State.
The world is experiencing hyper inflations and leaders around the world are making different efforts to calm the tide. Don’t also forget the war between Russia and Ukraine. Russia is probably the largest exporter of hydrocarbons and Ukraine is the largest exporter of grains. The war has continued to impact negatively on the global economy.
You need to do objective analysis of where the rain started beating us. Buhari is not your problem, but those who sold the country’s assets to themselves and still warming up to continue from where they stopped in 2015. They are our headache. They are the enemies of Nigerians.
Under Buhari’s eight years, Nigerians have begun to sing the redemption songs. Is it road network across the country? What about airports, railroads, dams and ports? And several others we can’t mention. If you ask me, we have made tremendous progress but we are not where we should be, so we need to move forward. And moving forward means rejecting the PDP at the polls.
.Otunba Sola Olatunji, Chairman of the Ikale Heritage Development Association, writes from Lagos.