By Abiola Olawale
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has thrown down the gauntlet to his critics, challenging anyone possessing credible proof of corruption against him to present it to the law.
Atiku’s bold response follows a formal petition submitted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), demanding the reopening of a high-profile financial investigation dating back to his time in office.
The renewed legal and political storm was triggered by a petition filed through Sagitarian Law Firm on behalf of former House of Representatives member Hon. Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma.
The petition, received by the EFCC, issued a 14-day ultimatum for the anti-graft agency to revive an investigative report compiled between 2005 and 2006.
The document accused Atiku of severe financial crimes, money laundering, and grand corruption during his tenure as Vice President.
Responding in a statement issued on Friday by Phrank Shaibu, his senior special assistant on public communication, Atiku said the allegations were subjected to scrutiny by the EFCC, an administrative panel, the National Assembly and the courts.
“Let us not rewrite history. The Obasanjo administration did not protect me. At the height of our political disagreement, these matters travelled through the EFCC, an administrative panel, the National Assembly and the courts. The machinery of the state was fully deployed, and the political hostility was public,” Atiku said.
“Yet no court convicted me on these allegations. That is the record.”
The former vice-president inquired whether new information had emerged after two decades of the initial investigation.
“So what exactly has been discovered in 2026 that Nigeria did not hear twenty years ago? A petition is not a conviction, an acknowledgement stamp is not evidence of guilt, and repetition cannot magically become a judgment of court,” he said.
Atiku urged anyone with credible evidence against him to present it for legal scrutiny.
“Anyone with credible evidence against me should bring it out and test it before the law,” the former vice-president said.
“I have issued that challenge before, and I repeat it today without hesitation.”
Atiku accused the supporters of President Bola Tinubu’s administration of revisiting old files to divert attention from economic and security challenges.
Atiku said the petition was triggered by his bid to get Tinubu to disclose the records of his civil forfeiture case with the United States government.
“The contrast with Bola Tinubu is almost comic. While I am saying, ‘bring out your evidence,’ Tinubu actually went to an American court to intervene in a case seeking FBI and DEA records concerning him, citing privacy interests in records he argued should not be disclosed. It is like a man ordering his neighbour to empty his pockets while keeping his own firmly zipped. A man seeking protection for his own records has no business waving petitions at somebody else. My challenge is simple: let every lawful record be opened and every allegation tested. Let Nigerians see who welcomes scrutiny and who reaches for privacy arguments when the files concern him,” the statement reads.
“But none of this political theatre will answer the question Nigerians are asking: why does their money buy less food, why does transportation swallow more of their wages, why are businesses struggling, and why are families working harder but living worse?
“The EFCC belongs to Nigeria, not to any government, party or candidate. It should investigate genuine wrongdoing wherever it finds it, but state institutions must never become emergency political weapons activated whenever those in power are losing the argument on governance.
“You cannot feed a hungry family with an EFCC petition. You cannot restore purchasing power with recycled allegations, and you cannot make life affordable by shouting Atiku whenever Nigerians demand answers.
“The old script did not stop me then, and it will not stop me now.”
