FG, PDP head for showdown over Atiku

…Ex-VP to face charge over role in collapse of Bank PHB …PDP dares FG to arrest Atiku on return from US …Says Buhar-led Govt jittery over ex-VP’s soaring popularity ahead of polls The Federal Government has alleged that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, benefited from a slush fund that led to the collapsed of Bank PHB now Keystone Bank. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the allegation on Friday while briefing State House Correspondents. Mohammed said: “In any event, any time Abubakar returns home, he has questions to answer, following the fresh evidence that we have that he benefitted from slush funds that led to the collapse of the former Bank PHB. “The document we have shows that he benefitted to the tune of N156 million from that slush fund. “The papers, which we have here started from an internal memo on the 13th of January, 2009, in which reads: Please refer for discussion you requested overdraft in favour of Atiku Abubakar for N156 million and deliver same to me. Please note that it must be delivered today (Jan. 13). On the same date, another memo was generated to confirm—please confirm that the amount stated below be issued from Claremont Management Services account. “And we have evidence here of the account mandate—the name of Atiku Abubakar; we also have a copy of the cheque in which the sum of N156 million was issued to Atiku Abubakar dated January 13, 2009 and of course we also have statement of account within that period that confirms that this sum was actually paid into his account. “These are fresh evidence as to his involvement in the collapse of Bank PHB, so we want him to stay as long he wants in the US but as soon he comes back, he has to explain to the electorate and to Nigerians his role in the collapse in the former Bank PHB”. Mohammed added: “I have come to make few remarks about the recent visit of the presidential candidate of the PDP to the US. You can recall that few weeks ago, I did issue a statement advising the US government not to issue visa to Atiku. “Remember also that in that same press conference, I also stated that it remains the prerogative of the US government to issue visa to anyone it deems fit. “Let me say right away that we are not perturbed one bit that Alhaji Atiku Abukakar was able to secure visa to the US. As a matter of fact, he can go ahead and get the US Green card that will not save him from imminent defeat in the forthcoming election. “I want to remind Abubakar that the elections will be right here in Nigeria and not in the US,” the government’s spokesman said. In a swift reaction, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dismissed the allegation against its Presidential candidate as trumped -up and went ahead to threaten the Federal Government to arrest Atiku on his return from the US. The party’s Presidential Campaign Organisation (PPCO), on Friday, described as laughable, what was described as plot by President Muhammadu Buhari’s Presidency to frame Atiku out of fear that he is already coasting to victory in the February 16 Presidential election. The PPCO stated that Atiku Abubakar has nothing to do with the alleged issues leading to the collapse of Bank PHB. Rather, he said Atiku is “an honest and hard-working Nigerian who has no skeleton of any sort in his cupboard, unlike President Buhari, who is now entangled in series of corruption allegations”. Kola Ologbondiyan, speaking on behalf of the campaign body, said President Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) are jittery over Atiku Abubakar’s soaring popularity ahead of the elections. He berated the President for descending abysmally low to fabricate outright lies and falsehood in a bid to discredit a more qualified and acceptable Presidential candidate. The party tackled the Buhari Presidency on many accusations of corruption levelled against people close to the President without defence from government or proper investigation by anti- corruption agencies of government. “For emphasis, even the Chairman of President Buhari’s Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay, had since told the world that the Buhari Presidency has searched everywhere and could not find anything incriminating on Atiku Abubakar. “The world already knows that this attempt to mudsling our Presidential candidate is coming out of President Buhari’s frustration over Atiku Abubakar’s successful outing in the United States, for which the Buhari Presidency has gone into full hallucination. ” This is in addition to their frenzied face-saving effort to divert public attention from President Buhari’s humiliating appearances in the respective rallies and Television shows he has had”, said Ologbondiyan. The PPCO, however, counseled President Buhari and the APC to note that Nigerians can see through their lies, fabrications and frustration and that their scheme against Atiku Abubakar is already dead on arrival. It charged President Buhari to “provide explanation for the N9 trillion stolen under his watch as Minister of Petroleum Resources as detailed in the leaked NNPC memo. “President Buhari should as well, allow an open inquest into the alleged involvement of his relations in the N1.032 trillion alleged corrupt acquisitions in 9Mobile and Keystone Bank Plc”. PPCO gave assurance that Atiku and indeed all Nigerians, have already reached a national consensus to vote-in the PDP candidate as the next President of the country and the hat and they will not be distracted by this unfounded allegation. Mathew Dadiya and Tunde Opalana, Abuja