Spokesperson of All Progressive Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, alleges that through the establishment of the controversial Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to ‘siphon’ public funds, as revealed by one of his estranged aides, Michael Achimugu, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, may have breached the public trust. In this interview on Channels TV, monitored by David Lawani, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, speaks on other related matters
How will you react to the allegations and denials by the PDP spokesperson, Senator Dino Melaye?
The point is that they should show the important portion of what Nigerians want to see and they clearly stated. That is not what they hear that the PDP is saying. When Atiku Abubakar started the phone call is the most important. As we discussed, please once they get the important portion they should play it for Nigerians to hear because they want to elect a very ‘dubious’ man
How do you know a man is dubious if no court has found that person guilty?
There have been several Senate confirmations of that, both here and in the United States.
But you know this platform is also going to be joined if there is a suit?
I will indemnify you.
Would you withdraw that statement?
I will not withdraw it. I will defend it anywhere. I want him to sue me for defamation and I will defend myself anywhere. I have records.
Can you share more lights on the dubious past?
Let us start by looking at the authenticity and credibility of the source. Any good journalist or private investigator that is how he should look at it. When you get whistle-blower information, the first thing you should do is to profile the person. And say is this credible? Or an authentic source? And how do you do that? Now, we have seen the photographs of this whistle-blower with Atiku Abubakar all over the world. If you have those pictures you can show them to see. I have them here with me. You can go to his internet and Twitter page all his pictures are there all over the world. We have seen private emails which we have authenticated between Atiku Abubakar and himself. Very private emails that they exchanged together over the years. We have confirmed that. We have seen letters of appointments which one of the garrulous guys came to say yesterday. He was denying it openly. The letters of appointment were signed by Chief Raymond Dokpesi. Another one was signed by Atiku’s son. While the last one was signed by former Governor Gbenga Daniel. He was Atiku Abubakar’s campaign manager in 2018. We want these individuals to come out and deny the letters. We want them to write a petition that their signatures were forged. We have a credible source to follow on the whistle-blower whistle. We have also seen not only letters of appointments. We have seen private emails as I said. The affidavits that he has sworn to authenticate the fact that he has put out. The second is to confirm the corroborative evidence around the information contained in that audio clip. In other words, the question you should be asking yourself is the information that was contained in that audio leak, do you have the corroborative evidence that confirms that such transactions didn’t take place? Now, no. Joshua Dariye of Plateau was convicted on the same issue. That is a public issue I am talking about now. One of the counts upon which Joshua Dariye was convicted was that there was N100m that he took. Plateau State account that he never returned, and it was traced to this same Marine Float. And in his confessional statement before he was charged in court. I was prosecuted for the EFCC, and I have been prosecuted all the years. He said this money was the money he gave to Atiku Abubakar, and you can hear Atiku Abubakar on the audio leak boasting that they could not trace any money to him. They didn’t pay any money to him. They paid it into Marine Float Account. That was why I said we should play the audio to see what Atiku Abubakar said when they came into office, the first thing he did was to approach his boss and then Obasanjo to ask how we get money out of the system. And he said he told Obasanjo to give me three names of your most trusted allies. And those three names I will use them to form a company. And they are going to warehouse slush funds. What were they going to be doing with the slush funds? One of these companies was Marine Float. Contracts coming out of government departments and agencies. A situation where a president and his vice president were looking for and dragging contracts with government agencies. They use these companies to warehouse slush funds as consultants. Once they get these monies they use them as consultants. And those were the money they were using to fund and finance their private businesses and of course their families. That of course what Atiku Abubakar said on that tape. The next thing is that when I talked about corroborative evidence, the Marine Float is not coming to public consciousness for the first time. The Marine Float Account was a controversial account between 1999 and 2007 when they left office in 2006, I want you to Google and fact-check it. At the height of the quarrel between Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar when they were in the office PDP asked Atiku Abubakar to refund N500m he took from the Marine Float Account. It was a PDP statement that they issued at that time. They were asking Atiku Abubakar to return the N500m that you took from the Marine Float Account. That was the PDP statement against Atiku Abubakar at that time. This is corroborative evidence to show that the content of that voice note was authentic.
On what ground are you going to tie Atiku Abubakar and Michael Achimugu?
I will tie it with the letters of appointment. And in this letters of appointments. Even the email sent by Otunba Gbenga Daniel to him in 2018. You can see the very personal relationship there. In that email, Otunba Gbenga Daniel told him that his Excellency told him to ask him to choose any role you want to play. And that is how close they were. He said, “His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar asked me to convey to you his decision for me to choose any role you like to play within my campaign. We have authenticated these emails.
What do you make of Dino Melaye’s statement that those emails should not be linked to Atiku Abubakar?
You know these emails were private emails exchanged between him and Michael Achimugu, very private emails. The SPVs we are talking about now. There were some emails preceding these phone calls.
But how come the private emails have not surfaced?
I have seen them, and I have authenticated them.
Are you the one sponsoring Michael Achimugu?
If you asked me, it will seem you are asking me if I sponsor the PDP G5 governors, for example, with their internal contradictions. This is a man who cannot hold together your household. Your party, aides around you. How do you want to rule Nigeria?
How do you react to the allegations by the PDP that APC is in alliance with Michael Achimugu? Are there any alliances whatsoever?
There is none. What do you expect them to say? Somebody come on air with these myriads of evidence. They have no modicum of shame for the type of people who are asking Nigerians to vote for them. No iota of shame.
What do you say to this PDP’s statement, “Having been suffocated in campaign space? You are looking for s short cut to improbable far-fetched means to electoral success. The immediate gangs of Ahmed Bola Tinubu in pitiable agony struggle to clutch the straw with hope in empty vessels who are capitalising on the desperation of Tinubu and his gymnast to sell a fairy tale for a fortune?”
We will know whether there is a fairy tale when we get to court. Remember it was on this program they brought a dead case for my principal. I said go to court. If you can go to court come out with your full chest. They ran away. I am going to court. If they wish it away, I won’t. I will go to court.
Under which capacity are you going to be doing that?
I will do it under three capacities. First I am a member of the inner bar. We swore to uphold and defend our oats of laws. Second, I am an ordinary Nigerian who is concerned about the need to bring perpetrators of crime to book. And that was the case by Fawehinmi against Akilu. The Supreme Court established that principle, and even before I was appointed Minister, I was an active prosecutor for the EFCC for more than 15 years, and I have to also help them to follow up on it. I have sent a petition already and there are receipts for that from three law enforcement agencies. The Code of Conduct, ICPC, and EFCC. They all have roles to play in this because offences have been presumably committed against this Money Laundering Act and ICPC etc. I cited all the sections that Atiku Abubakar breached in all of these laws. To show the authenticity of anybody’s claim tell the person to go to court. I am proceeding to court. If Asiwaju Bola Tinubu says I am diverting from his campaign and he said I should resign, I will because this is a national interest.
Are you taking it personally?
I am taking it personally. It is of national interest at this time. I have taken so many of these cases to court.
Why don’t you wait till after the election? Won’t it look like it is because you are afraid that you cannot win the election?
In the middle of the campaigns in America, a few hours, before the election, the FBI opened an investigation into Hilary Clinton’s email when it was alleged that as Secretary of State, she was using private emails to transact public businesses. The US sees that as a serious offence. The FBI didn’t care whether she was a candidate of the Democratic Party. They didn’t care, an offence has been committed against they do not care and they open up an investigation. They fought that fight up to the Justice Department. Those are in saner clime. Why do we go this route? To say all this connote will.be a feeling of prosecution but he is a candidate. It doesn’t confer immunity on him. Any Nigerian seeing these facts should be genuinely angry. How do you don’t this to the highest level? The president and the Vice president colluding to fund companies to steal from the public treasury to run their private businesses? It was at that time they established Bell University and American University. So, we know where those funds came from now. Whether Atiku Abubakar wins or not I am prepared to prosecute his government for doing this. I am prepared to go to jail. I am prepared to go to prison, be charged, and be prosecuted even though he wins as President.
These monies were not paid to Atiku Abubakar directly. So, on what basis are you going to court?
Let me read to you, Section 19 of the Money Laundering Act, Penal Code, etc. Let me read the ICPC Act on money laundering section 19. And I quote, “Any public officer who uses his office or position corrupt or gratify any or favour upon himself or any relation or associate or any other public officer shall be equity of an offence and upon conviction shall be liable to five years imprisonment without any option of fine. That is how serious this offence is. It is without an option fine. There will be slap on the wrist after paying 2000 and going home. You must go to prison. That is what this section says. That is what Atiku Abubakar and Obasanjo did. Nigerians today in their homes should go to bed very angry. Because of the criminal enterprise that people in the highest level of office and government perpetuate and did to this country. And that was at the same time that people like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu were toiling to build Lagos. That was the time they were holding back local governments’ funds in Lagos. And it was at the same time they were running an enterprise of criminality in Abuja by a president and his vice-president. Nigerians should go to bed very angry about these revelations.
