Atiku: Giving a dog a bad name

By Daniel Alabrah

On November 14, 2018, the Saturday Sun led its front page with the bold headline: “The Atiku Dilemma,” with two accompanying riders: 1. We want to prosecute him for graft but no evidence to nail him, says Itse Sagay; and 2. Ex-VP now vindicated – PDP.

Sagay is chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), one of the bodies empanelled by President Muhammadu Buhari to deepen his so-called war against graft in Nigeria.

Given the albeit selective disposition of the Buhari administration to the war against corruption, it was expected that it would fire a rebuttal or even query Sagay for giving the President’s main challenger in the February 16, 2019 election such a weighty clean bill. But days, weeks and months have since passed without even a caution to Sagay.

From the report and Sagay’s comment, one perceived some kind of frustration on the part of the federal government to bring the former Vice President to face the wrath of the law. “We want to prosecute him (Atiku) but no evidence to nail him,” Sagay had lamented.

It is like telling a sworn enemy: God saved you otherwise I would have dealt with you. After all, what the Buhari trumpeters want everyone to believe and accept is that Atiku is corrupt and, perhaps, the most corrupt politician to have held public office in Nigeria regardless of not being convicted by any court.

To that extent, it was a surprise that the old wily law Professor, known for his many flip-flops since he became a part of the Buhari administration, made such a courageous positive declaration about Atiku.

It was also expected that after Sagay’s unsolicited clearance of Atiku, other members of the Buhari chant group would take a cue and search for other ammo apart from the time-worn allegations bordering on corruption to throw at Atiku. But whosai!

Since he emerged as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate and the major hurdle to Buhari’s second term bid, Atiku has sucked in with equanimity the fiery darts from the latter’s vociferous brigade. But, recently, he said not anymore as he took the fight into the lion’s den and dared the king of the jungle to a battle. He fired a direct shot at Buhari, who claims to be Mr. Integrity, to come clean on the allegation that members of his family and cronies corruptly acquired shares in Keystone Bank and the Arabian telecoms giants, Etisalat, which has morphed into 9Mobile in Nigeria.

Shockingly, instead of responding to the grave allegation, the Presidency decided to play the ostrich and challenged its accusers to show proof. Knowing the way it addresses such issues, many Nigerians are of the view that if there was no substance in the allegation, Buhari would have threatened to go to court to seek legal redress. I am not aware he has done that yet. Perhaps, he is hoping the wind on the matter would sooner than later blow away and Nigerians would move on to other issues as usual.

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I doubt very much if that would be the case on this matter that borders on the only foot on which the President is standing to prosecute his re-election bid. Not having a strong showing in terms of performance and achievements after almost four years in office, President Buhari is relying on only his integrity to campaign. Interestingly, his strongest weapon has come under serious scrutiny. I totally align with Atiku that Mr. President should come clean on this allegation regardless of the rebuttals from Keystone Bank and Etisalat.

So far, the response from the Buhari campaign organisation has been anything else but tepid. The effort of its Director of Strategic Communication, Barr. Festus Keyamo, to divert attention from the real issue has fallen flat. His riposte was at best an exercise to personalise the matter. Instead of addressing the weighty allegation against his principal, the official spokesperson rather resorted to his trademark unsubstantiated accusation of corruption aga