Atiku and Obasanjo: Atiku says money given Obasanjo Library was a donation
Former
vice-president Atiku Abubakar has confirmed that some money was indeed
given to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, a transaction that
has become part of the money laundering probe by EFCC of the €150million
brought into the country by his failed presidential campaign.
But
he insisted it was a normal donation because the library is a
not-for-profit organisation and that the donation was made via a bank
cheque, and not cash of $140,000 that the EFCC is investigating.
The
EFCC on 8 August extended to Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library,
its investigation of the laundered 150 million euros cash-for-poll by
associates of former vice-president Atiku Abubakar.
EFCC
investigators went to the Library to authenticate the claims by one of
those under probe, Mallam Babalele Abdullahi, Atiku’s son-in-law, that
he gave $140,000 (about N50 million) in cash to one of the library
officials.
The Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library Abeokuta, Ogun State: EFCC visits to find the recipient of Atiku’s money
According to reports, the EFCC officials, accompanied by policemen, combed some offices at the former President’s Library.
“For
the avoidance of doubt, Mallam Babalele Abdullahi, Atiku Abubakar’s
son-in-law, did not donate any money in cash to the Olusegun Obasanjo
Library. Yes, he did facilitate a donation of fifty million naira to the
Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, but so did many other
individuals, including civic-minded traditional rulers, state Governors,
bankers and captains of industry.
“This is because the Olusegun
Obasanjo Presidential Library is a non-governmental organisation that
plays a pivotal role in promoting peace and stability in Nigeria, and
that should be applauded”, said the Vice President in a statement by his
media office on Monday.
Atiku is also now reading a sinister
motive in the EFCC leaking its probe to the press, by accusing the
commission of trying to “cause disaffection and bad blood between him
and the former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Raising sentiments that Obasanjo founded, while in office, Atiku slammed the anti-graft agency for being a disappointment.
“An
action such as this is tantamount to a river denying its own source,
since Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is the fountain of origin of the EFCC,
seeing(sic) as he founded the institution and nurtured it to maturity”.
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