Alhaji Atiku Abubakar
The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party has
demanded a probe into the ownership of Etisalat Nigeria and
Keystone Bank.
Mr Abubakar, in a statement by a spokesperson, Phrank Shaibu,
said the call was necessary “in view of reports that members of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s family now own substantial share in
Etisalat Nigeria which has an estimated $2 billion (about N727
billion at 360 per dollar) of its estimated $20 billion global net
worth.”
Read Mr Shaibu’s full statement sent to our reporter below.
The Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has called on the appropriate authorities to
urgently institute a probe to unravel the hidden faces behind the
new ownership structure of multi-billion naira telecoms giant,
Etisalat Nigeria, as well as Keystone Bank.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the Special
Assistant to Atiku on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said
such a probe was necessary in view of reports that members of
President Muhammadu Buhari’s family now own substantial share in
Etisalat Nigeria which has an estimated $2 billion (about N727
billion at 360 per dollar) of its estimated $20 billion global net
worth.
Atiku also expressed shock at reports from unimpeachable sources
that the first family now plays big in the nation’s financial
sector after acquiring mouthwatering shares in Keystone Bank with
total assets of $1.916 billion (equivalent to N307.5 billion) as
well as purchasing about ₦3 billion worth of shares in the new
Pakistani Islamic Bank.
“I know that last week was turbulent for President Buhari and I
apologise for adding to his woes, but as he is insistent on the
myth that he is spotless and anti-corrupt, If this is found to be
true, this scandal would break every rule of corporate and public
governance, since this will be the first time members of the first
family will be openly involved in a once-in-a-lifetime deal that
would make them all richer beyond their wildest dreams,” the
statement said.
The accusation is coming amidst reported allegations in the
media that the All Progressives Congress (APC) led federal
government plans to use billions of Naira from the Anchor Borrowers
Programme allocated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for
farmers, using imaginary donations from 12 million farmers as a
façade.
But the presidential candidate of the PDP advised President
Buhari to shun the use of state resources and machinery for the
upcoming 2019 presidential poll.
Specifically, Atiku said no farmer contributed any N1.7billion
for Buhari’s re-election campaign, warning that APC’s decision to
use monies meant for farmers to run his campaign is not tidy at
all.
“The other day, a man who scored 15,424,921 votes to win the
2015 general election was reported to have been nominated by 14
million APC members at the Presidential primaries for 2019. Now,
over 12 million farmers have donated to his campaign. Are they
indirectly spewing out outrageous figures of people they intend to
claim voted for them in the coming elections? Could that be why the
President was flashing an occult double four hand signal that has
gone viral?What did the hand signal mean? Does it mean that the
President has jettisoned the idea of a free and fair election and
telling Nigerians that no matter how they vote, he will return for
a second term of four years? In any case , if the farmers who just
took a loan through the borrowers anchor programme and have not
liquidated the facility can donate this huge sum or any sum for
that matter, it means the ‘Association of widows and children of
all those slain by Boko Haram and herdsmen will donate N5billion to
the Buhari campaign. In fact, the 23.1 million youth who lost their
jobs between 2016 till date will donate about N12billion to the
Buhari campaign.”
“Assuming but not even conceding that such a huge sum of money
was donated to President Buhari by Nigerian farmers as his handlers
would want Nigerians to believe, wouldn’t such donation be in
contravention of Section 91 (9)of the Electoral Act 2010 (as
amended) which says no individual or other entity shall donate more
than N1m to an aspirant or a candidate,” Atiku said.
Section 91 (2) of the Electoral Act further states that a
presidential candidate can spend a maximum of N1billion.
The law also recommends a fine of N1m or a prison term of
12months or both for any candidate that breaches the provisions of
the Act.
‘We have no stand on whether or not President Buhari should run
for office. That is his prerogative and that of his party. But we
believe it is improper for public office holders to forcefully loot
public funds, on behalf of a sitting president seeking a second
term in office.
‘’What this means is that there is a ‘war chest’ which
apparently is from the national coffers,’’ Atiku said.
He said if President Buhari wants to run for office next year,
he should take only from monies sourced from donations by his
campaign groups that are independent of government.
‘’Anything short of that – as is currently the case with the use
of funds from the CBN meant for farmers will mean there will be no
level playing field for all the candidates billed to contest for
the presidency during next year’s presidential elections,’’ Atiku
said.
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