Nigerian government has declared former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku as unfit to comment on corruption due to his unnamed wife’s indictment for corruption allegations.
Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga said on Sunday in a statement that Atiku wife was the business associate of former US Congressman William Jefferson, who was jailed for 13 years.
He comments were in response to a series of posts on social media by Atiku, faulting President Bola Tinubu economic reforms and policies, which he claimed have set Nigeria on reverse mode and inflicted pains on poor Nigerians.
In 2005, when we received reliable information that a sitting member of the U.S. Congress was allegedly using his official position to solicit bribes from American companies interested in doing business in Africa, we opened an investigation, FBI data said.
The report said the congressman in question was William J. Jefferson, who had been serving Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district since 1991.
The source also said investigation revealed that from 2000 to 2005, Jefferson sought hundreds of millions of dollars for himself and other co-conspirators from companies whose success depended on the approval of certain U.S. and West African government agencies. He ended up pocketing more than $478,000, but Jefferson wasted significantly more in U.S. government resources to fester his illegal aims.
Continuing, the Presidential aide who listed several steps that the President Tinubu led-government has taken toward improving the economy, stated that the former Vice President does not have better alternatives to transform Nigeria having been rejected in his six shots to become Nigeria’s President.
“In any case, is it not ironic that an Atiku, who was entangled in corruption allegations, including one in which his wife was indicted and his business associate, former US Congressman, William Jefferson, was jailed for 13 years, is now talking about corruption matters?”, Onanuga queried in the statement.
“The suggestion of phased-out subsidy removal is an outdated approach that has historically led to fiscal challenges for Countries like Indonesia, which Atiku references. Nigeria has gradually phased out subsidies since 1978, with numerous adjustments made. Fuel prices were adjusted 22 times between 1978 and 2020. Rather than pushing for unrealistic timelines, Atiku should recognise the necessity of President Tinubu’s bold reforms.
“Notably, while Atiku peddles his economic fantasies, he has yet to denounce President Tinubu’s removal of the fuel subsidy because he knows that the reform was necessary and correct. We can only urge him to purge himself of the petty, derisive politics of a sore loser”, he said.
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