Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has been urged by Yusuf Dantalle, National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), to either immediately apologize or publicly reveal the names of opposition leaders who claimed to have received ₦50 million from the Bola Tinubu-led government.
Dantalle’s request comes after Atiku recently asserted that opposition members were given cash inducements by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in order to soften their political positions.
It was remembered that Atiku claimed the APC was giving opposition groups ₦50 million apiece to weaken Nigerian democracy during his remarks at a national summit on bolstering democracy in Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.
Since then, the former vice president’s remarks have generated controversy, and opposition leaders have refuted the claims.
Dantalle rejected Atiku’s charges in an interview with Politics Today, a Channels Television show that aired on Friday. He maintained that no opposition politician he is aware of has accepted such money.
Dantalle claims that these accusations cause needless mistrust and rifts within opposition groups.
He asked Atiku to offer verifiable proof, insisting that neither the opposition leader nor the national chairman had ever received such monies.
“You must exercise caution in your speech to avoid unnecessarily upsetting the political climate,” Dantalle advised.
“As Atiku Abubakar, you do have information, but it is insufficient for you to publicly claim that all opposition parties or opposition family members are benefiting from ₦50 million.
As far as I’m aware, my party, the Allied People’s Movement, is in charge of running the Secretariat of the umbrella organization for all political parties in Nigeria. As far as I’m aware, no national chairman or leader is making any money anywhere.
It is different if you are going out and saying, “Okay, fine, so, so and so are collecting the money, to give a lead to what you are saying,” he added.
Atiku’s speech has unnecessarily raised suspicions among opposition members, making him appear involved, Dantalle underlined. He asked the former vice president to issue a public apology or identify the suspected perpetrators.
“You’ve been successful in inciting mistrust between the two parties. With all due respect, I believe that Atiku Abubakar need to either publicly apologize to opposition leaders in the same manner that he made this accusation or name and name opposition leaders who are complicit in this nonsense.
However, the Inter-Party Advisory Council is unaware of what Atiku is implying. Regards.
“In politics, everything is possible. But I’m limiting this to the Inter Party Advisory Council, which consists of the 19 political parties that are now registered, and there is no indication that anyone has amassed ₦50 million,” he continued.
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Dantalle also claimed that Atiku may have been duped by those looking to take advantage of him financially by making up the story that the APC was buying off opposition politicians.
“The leaders of every other opposition party have been in communication with me. I spoke with the national head of the SDP, the YPP, the PRP, the AA, and the NRM, and everyone seemed to be upset.
I stopped talking at one point, and it appeared like I was complicit in some of these incidents. It’s embarrassing. And really, we need the former vice president to either come out and name the individuals implicated or offer an apology.
He stated that in this case, “some opposition leaders,” it’s probable that some people approached Atiku and said, “Okay, this is what this person is giving us, so you can give us something like that.”
I don’t know who is providing this money, and I don’t know who is receiving it, so it would be fair to all of us in the opposition family if you mentioned or named the individuals involved.
Between God and myself, I’m saying this. It has the potential to excessively upset the political balance. You should not make such statements as a leader or elder statesman since you are unnecessarily upsetting the political system.
The National Chairman of IPAC said, “He will be helping us if he identifies these persons. Even if he doesn’t want to mention them directly, he can use a proxy to mention the people involved, or the parties or the leaders involved in this thing.”
Atiku was previously challenged by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to present proof for his allegation that the APC was bribing opposition groups with ₦50 million.
