By Eshioromeh Sebastian
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has fired back at the Presidency over what it described as an attempt to invoke China in attacking him, describing the move as a “monumental own goal” that has only exposed President Bola Tinubu to greater public scrutiny.
In a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the Presidency’s spokesman unwittingly dragged his own principal into an avoidable comparison that immediately rebounds against Tinubu.
Atiku’s response was triggered by an earlier statement from the Presidency’s spokesman, who reportedly invoked China in an attempt to question Atiku’s integrity.
The former Vice President viewed this as a desperate and ill-considered attack that backfired spectacularly.
“It takes a peculiar kind of unintelligence for a spokesman to set out to drag an opponent before a hypothetical Chinese court, only to end up dragging his own principal into the dock,” the statement read.
Atiku pointed out the glaring contradiction in the Presidency’s logic, noting that China’s legal system is notoriously strict on drug-related offences, with the death penalty as the maximum punishment for serious trafficking offences.
“Perhaps the spokesman did not realise that the maximum penalty under Chinese law for the most serious drug trafficking offences is death. Having chosen China as his benchmark, he unwittingly invited Nigerians to examine the very standard he thought would embarrass Atiku Abubakar,” the statement added.
Atiku who is the Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) for the 2027 election, emphasised that he has never been indicted or convicted by any court in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world for corruption, narcotics offences, or any criminal offence whatsoever, a fact he described as incontrovertible public record.
Atiku then turned the tables on the Presidency, challenging Tinubu to apply the same Chinese standard to himself.
“If, however, the Presidency insists that China is now the standard by which public accountability should be measured, Nigerians are equally entitled to ask what the Chinese authorities would have done in a case involving $460,000 forfeited to the United States Government in a civil forfeiture proceeding concerning funds alleged to be connected to narcotics trafficking and money laundering,” the statement queried.
“China is renowned for its uncompromising approach to narcotics-related offences and public accountability. It is not a jurisdiction where the forfeiture of suspicious proceeds ordinarily marks the end of official scrutiny. More often than not, that is where scrutiny begins.”
Atiku further listed what he argued would be unacceptable under China’s strict governance standards:
Not in China would a President sign into law a national budget immersed in scandals, padding and duplicitous appropriations.
Not in China would a President look the other way while a senior presidential aide faces grave allegations of creating a fake government agency.
· Not in China would a government campaign on “Renewed Hope” only to deliver renewed hardship to its citizens.
“These are precisely the reasons the Presidency should have been more circumspect before invoking China,” Atiku said.
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