Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has challenged the Federal Government to investigate and prosecute him if it has evidence linking him to wrongdoing over the controversial $16 billion power-sector expenditure.
Atiku issued the challenge amid a renewed political dispute between his camp and the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the country’s economy, subsidy removal and the management of public funds.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku argued that allegations surrounding power projects, privatisation and public assets were being revived to divert attention from questions over how revenues generated since the removal of petrol subsidy have been used.
The former vice president said he had nothing to fear from an investigation, insisting that successive administrations had had sufficient opportunity to establish any case of wrongdoing against him since he left office in 2007.
Atiku said the National Assembly had previously investigated the power projects but that he was never invited to answer allegations arising from the exercise.
He acknowledged that he chaired the National Council on Privatisation while serving as vice president but maintained that he disagreed with the concept of the power project and did not oversee its implementation.
According to Atiku, if the government possesses evidence that he misappropriated public funds, the appropriate step is to present the evidence before a court rather than engage in what he described as political propaganda.
He also challenged the Tinubu administration to explain how the additional revenues generated following the removal of petrol subsidy have been deployed.
The controversy comes as Atiku continues to make the economic consequences of subsidy removal a central part of his criticism of the Federal Government ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
The Tinubu administration and its allies have defended the government’s economic reforms while accusing opposition figures of using the hardship created by the reforms for political purposes.
Atiku, however, has maintained that Nigerians have endured rising costs of petrol, transportation, food and other necessities without sufficient transparency over the benefits of the additional government revenue.