"Atiku Is Corrupt" - Obasanjo Says

After a long break, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Atiku Abubakar, seem set to renew their hostilities.

Obasanjo is insinuating that ex-Vice President Atiku is corrupt, saying he was investigated by his administration following alert from the United States.

He said Nigerians should ask Atiku why he has not visited the United States since he left office, if he has no case to answer.

Obasanjo, who bared his mind on why he moved against his deputy in an interview with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) magazine, Zero Tolerance, said he could not understand why the anti-graft commission has not taken Atiku to court.

He said he did not at any time instigate former EFCC Chairman Nuhu Ribadu against Atiku.
Obasanjo said: “Ask Ribadu, if I ever say to him, ‘go do this’.

“No; that is not true. We got a letter from America in June 2006, listing a number of people to be investigated; Atiku was one of them and that letter went straight to the EFCC.

“It was just shown to me because they will not be able to investigate my number two without my saying ‘ok’. So, I said if we got this letter from America, so be it.

“If we have agreement with FBI, Metropolitan Police and they are helping us and we are helping them and they write to us and say these are the people we want you to help us investigate, what do you think we should do? You as EFCC, what will you do, coincidence or no coincidence?”
He said Atiku had refused to travel to the United States since he left office because of alleged corruption.

He went on: “Well, I don’t know what the EFCC has found out about him, but I don’t know if he can go to America. Do you know? I am asking you, do you know?

“He travels? Travels to where? To Dubai? Let him go to America and return to Nigeria.
“Well, I don’t know what the EFCC has found out about him, but I don’t know if he can go to America. Do you know? I am asking you, do you know?”

But Atiku could not be reached last night for his reaction. He was away in China.

His Media Adviser, Mallam Garba Shehu, said: “Turaki (Atiku) is in China and the time difference is about eight hours. There is no way I could reach him. You can run your story, we will react later. Turaki will wish to personally react,” he said.