Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has hinted that Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is under investigation over claims that he financed his 2023 failed election.
Atiku was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party then and contested against Sanwo-Olu’s godfather, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, the eventual winner.
Gossip in circulation has for a while had it that President Tinubu and the Lagos governor are not on good terms arising from a report about alleged financial support Sanwo-Olu gave Atiku during the 2023 presidential poll.
Atiku, in a statement his media aide, Paul Ibe, released, denied any monetary transaction between him and the Lagos governor.
In the denial in which he described the report as, “A contrived political hogwash, and a futile campaign of calumny aimed at advancing the political interests of President Bola Tinubu,” Atiku said his path and that of Sanwo-Olu have never crossed.
He also hinted that Sanwo-Olu is under EFCC’s investigation over the allegation.
“It is a political hatchet job aimed at providing a much-needed justification to jettison Governor Sanwo-Olu, who appears to have fallen out of favour with the ‘Bourdillon Cult,” the statement read.
He added that the claim is a strategy whose aim is either to get rid of Sanwo-Olu or to discredit the coalition being put together by the opposition political leaders, of which he is a key stakeholder.
“To even underscore how poor the propaganda is, an unnamed Sanwo-Olu’s aide is quoted in the news story trashing his principal and adding fuel to the fire,” he added.
He challenged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to make public the outcome of its alleged investigation, adding that it is not just President Tinubu that is entitled to that information but the generality of the Nigerian public.
“This voyage of misadventure and campaign of calumny against the person and reputation of Atiku Abubakar must be halted immediately and with alacrity, too,” he stated.
(Akelicious)
