The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has been caught on tape admitting his involvement in a complex conspiracy that for years took advantage of federal contracting expenditures.
This was disclosed in a viral audio shared by Atiku’s former aide, Michael Achimugu where the former vice-president was narrating how he took charge of setting up onshore shell businesses to serve as a conduit for syphoning significant sums from public works contracts for himself and former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Obasanjo was Nigeria’s President between 1999 and 2007 while Atiku was the Vice President.
Atiku also revealed how their government designated some funds stolen during the process to political allies to fund their party’s activities without traces.
He said, “What happened was when we came into office and I advised the president against open corruption.
“I told him to give me three people you trust and I will prepare three companies in which they will be subscribers or rather the directors.
“So that if there is any contract that we give they will act like consultants and they are given a fee. That fee is what we use to fund the party.”
A Senate inquiry recommended that Atiku should be prosecuted for syphoning off money to companies he was connected to.
The Senate launched the investigation after the then-president, Obasanjo, forwarded charges made by Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency against Atiku.
In a report presented to the Senate, the investigating panel said it agreed with the findings that Atiku helped divert $145m from Nigerian government accounts to banks.
However, nothing came out of the investigation and findings made by the panel.
