KEYAMO: If the system worked, Atiku should be in jail by now, not contesting for president

For the Spokesperson of the Buhari Campaign Organization, Festus Keyamo, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Atiku Abubakar should be in jail rather than contesting for the office of the President, if Nigeria had a working system.

Keyamo said Atiku would have been in jail for different acts of alleged corruption and abuse of power, including tax evasion.

He was responding to a statement by Atiku where he disagreed with President Muhammadu Buhari that the system in Nigeria allows corruption to thrive because it is slow in tackling corruption.

Atiku also said Buhari had failed to address cases of “corrupt practices” under his watch.

But Keyamo reminded Atiku that he was one of the “greatest beneficiaries of the failed system in tackling corruption that was in place before President Muhammadu Buhari took over in 2015”.

He claimed the former Vice-President robbed the Nigerian people of their wealth by acquiring substantial shares in INTELS as a customs officers when he was in power, thereby creating a monopolistic company which had been broken by President Buhari.

Keyamo who dragged former President Olusegun Obasanjo into the argument said “there was a competition for corruption between himself (Atiku), his boss and public officers”

For reasons why Atiku should be in jail, Keyamo explains, “For himself and his boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, granting themselves licenses to build universities as President and Vice President whilst in office in clear breach of the Code of Conduct for Public Officers.

“Those Universities would have been probed, seized and transferred to the Nigerian State and the Nigerian people by now.

“Laundering slush funds to the United States of America using phony companies, part of which was used to fund his present American University in Adamawa State through which he is also extorting Nigerians through exorbitant fees. It is public knowledge that this indictment is contained in a US Congressional Report that has led to the prosecution and conviction of his accomplices in the US, which are William Jefferson and Siemens.

“They were convicted under a system that works, whilst he has been walking free in Nigeria and even aspiring to the highest office in the land. It is also public knowledge that his ban from entering the United States was as a result of these indictments.

“His indictment and recommendation for prosecution by the Report of the EFCC over the PTDF scandal whilst he was Vice President.”

He said Atiku and his goons who looted the country had forfeited property and cash amount including, 407 Mansions since 2015; N794 Billion; over $261 Million Dollars; 1.1 Million Pounds Sterling; 8.1 Million Euros; 259 Automobiles; a fully functional hospital, St. Solomon Health Care Centre at 24, Adeniyi Jones Street, Ikeja Lagos, among others.

Keyamo said the former Vice-President lacked the morals and character to “stand shoulder-to-shoulder in matters of integrity with President Muhammadu Buhari”, describing it a “political suicide.”

Read also: ATIKU TO BUHARI: ‘The problem is not the system. You’re the problem!’

He maintained that judgment day had come upon Atiku whom he describes as someone lacking in integrity needed to win the 2019 presidential election.

“Now Judgment Day has come when the credential needed by the Nigerian people for the highest office are not the buildings and wealth but the simple quality of integrity.

“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar cannot eat his cake and have it.”

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