The Federal Government has accused the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, of complicit in the collapse of Bank PHB.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, alleged this on Friday in Abuja while responding to question from State House correspondents about government’s position on the former VP’s on-going visit to United States, a country he was rumoured to be avoiding for fear of arrest and prosecution for financial crime he allegedly perpetrated.
Mohammed said, “Let me say right away that we are not perturbed one bit that Alhaji Atiku Abukakar was able to secure a visa to the US. As a matter of fact, he can go ahead and get the US Green Card; that will not save him from imminent defeat in the forthcoming election.
“I want to remind Abubakar that the elections will be right here in Nigeria and not in the US. In any event, any time Abubakar returns home, he has questions to answer following the fresh evidence that we have that he benefited from slush funds that led to the collapse of former Bank PHB.
“The document we have shown he benefited to the tune of N156m from that slush fund.
“The paper which we have here started from an internal memo on January 13, 2009, which reads, ‘Please refer for discussion, your requested overdraft in favour of Atiku Abubakar for N156m and deliver same to me.
“Please note that it must be delivered today (January 13) on the same date.’’’
According to the minister, another memo in the possession of the government confirmed Atiku later received the money saying, “We have evidence here of the account mandate, the name of Atiku Abubakar; we also have a copy of the cheque in which the sum of N156m was issued to Atiku Abubakar, dated January 13, 2009.
“And of course, we also have a statement of account within that period that confirms that this sum was actually paid into his account.
“These are fresh evidence as to his involvement in the collapse of Bank PHB. So, we want him to stay as long as he wants in the US, but as soon as he comes back, he has to explain to the electorate and to Nigerians what his role was in the collapse of the former Bank PHB.”
