Four days after former Vice-President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, alleged that relations of President Muhammadu were the hidden faces behind the new ownership structure of multi-billion naira telecoms giant, Etisalat (now 9mobile) Nigeria as well as Keystone Bank, Festus Keyamo, Director, Strategic Communications President Muhammadu Buhari Campaign Organisation, has dared the PDP presidential candidate and the main opposition party to provide convincing evidence to back the allegations.
The former Vice-President in a ststement last Tuesday, had called on appropriate authorities to urgently institute a probe to unravel the new ownership structure of the telecommunication firm and the bank.
The PDP presidential candidate further noted that the probe was necessary in view of reports that members of President Muhammadu Buhariâ€
s family now own substantial shares in Etisalat (9mobile) Nigeria which has an estimated $2bn (about N727bn at 360 per dollar) of its estimated $20bn global net worth.
Atiku further alleged that the first family now plays big in the nationâ€s financial sector after acquiring mouthwatering shares in Keystone Bank with total assets of $1.916bn (equivalent to N307.5b) as well as purchasing about N3b worth of shares in the new Pakistani Islamic Bank.
But Festus Keyamo, said Atiku’s claims were lies to cover up the PDP presidential candidate sordid past and desperation to return to the Presidential Villa.
He said: “A few days ago, the Presidential Candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, called out President Muhammadu Buhari over certain allegations of “corrupt practicesâ€� which the President allegedly condones in his government. Whilst we have repeatedly addressed each and every of the instances cited by him to show the transparent nature of the government, it is shocking that the Presidential candidate of the main opposition has refused to issue a personal statement up till this minute clarifying in details his record of crass corruption and abuse of office. He is clearly taking Nigerians for a ride and hopes to distort the ethical revolution in public office that Nigerians clearly desire to his own philosophy of abusing public office to promote private interests.
“By his subliminal messages, he wants Nigerians to accept that becoming wealthy by abusing public office is not a bad thing after all.
“With the avalanche of fake and unsubstantiated news released in the last few days, it is now clear that PDPâ€s strategy in the run up to the elections is to spread fake news and make wild allegations without any proof against the President and the Vice President. This is clearly to divert attention from the record of crass corruption and abuse of office of their own candidate. Nigerians cannot and should not be insulted by the PDP after 16 years of looting of the nation, by now putting forward a man whose record of corruption they very much acknowledge, but would rather we all overlook it.
“After three days of publicly announcing that they have hard proof that the Presidentâ€s relations bought shares in Etisalat and Keystone Bank, the PDP has not produced a single piece of paper, a document of any sort to buttress the grave allegations it made. This is how shameless and callous the Atiku team has become, all in a desperate bid to get their hands on the public purse.
“Lastly, we challenge Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for the umpteen time to produce his tax receipts for 2015, 2016 and 2017. It is shocking that a man who has not been paying his Personal Income Taxes now says he wants to “get Nigerians working againâ€� – whatever that means. He is only deceiving himself and not the intelligent Nigerians that we know.”
Keyamo equally challenged the PDP presIdential candidate to come clean on what he called the notorious money laundering allegations against him in the United States.
The post Provide evidence on Buhari’s Etisalat, Keystone shares, Keyamo dares Atiku appeared first on Tribune Online.
Provide evidence on Buhari’s Etisalat, Keystone shares, Keyamo dares Atiku
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