By Our Correspondent<\/p>\n
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ntufam Hilliard Eta, has called on the nation’s anti-corruption agencies to fully investigate allegations and petitions against former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and prosecute him if evidence establishes any criminal offence.
\nAddressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday at the APC National Secretariat, Eta said the call was driven by the principle of accountability, not political considerations.
\nHe stressed that public office must never become a shield against scrutiny and that political ambition should not stop institutions from acting on credible allegations.
\nThe APC chieftain said he was not asking for a conviction in the court of public opinion, but that the evidence be subjected to the process of court of law. \u201cThat distinction is fundamental,\u201d he stated.
\nEta referenced a petition reportedly received by the EFCC on September 1, 2026, calling for the reopening of financial-crime allegations against Atiku dating back to investigations conducted around 2005-2006.
\nHe also cited renewed discussions around a 2010 United States Senate report on suspicious financial transactions.
\nEta noted that while the report was not a criminal conviction, the allegations contained in it were serious enough to warrant examination by Nigerian authorities.
\nAccording to him, the first set of allegations concern the movement of more than US$40 million in suspect funds into the United States between 2000 and 2008 through offshore corporations linked to Jennifer Douglas, Atiku\u2019s wife. The Senate report said about US$25 million was transferred into U.S. accounts opened by Douglas.
\nThe second allegation concerns payments connected to Siemens AG. Eta said the Senate report stated that Douglas received at least US$1.7 million in alleged bribe payments, while an SEC civil complaint alleged US$2.8 million in bribe payments from Siemens.
\nHe stressed that these were allegations contained in historical records, not convictions.
\nThird, Eta mentioned questions over approximately US$14 million transferred by offshore corporations to American University for consulting services related to the university\u2019s establishment in Nigeria, as examined in the Senate report.
\nHe also listed allegations of the use of Special Purpose Vehicles, SPVs, to divert public funds during Atiku\u2019s tenure as Vice-President from 1999 to 2007. These resurfaced in 2023 following claims by Michael Achimugu and a petition by Festus Keyamo to the EFCC, ICPC and CCB.
\nOther allegations, he said, border on money laundering, criminal breach of trust, criminal misappropriation, conspiracy and possible violations of the Code of Conduct, as well as questions concerning accounts associated with Marine Float and other companies.
\nEta argued that allowing allegations of this magnitude to become mere political ammunition during an election season is dangerous and he said the same standard of accountability must apply to government and opposition figures alike.
\nHe therefore called on the EFCC and other competent authorities to examine every credible petition, obtain relevant records, invite appropriate persons and \u201cfollow the money\u201d without fear or favour.
\n\u201cA serious democracy asks: Was a crime committed? Is there admissible evidence? If yes, prosecution should follow. If no, the matter should be closed,\u201d Eta said, adding, \u201cNo sacred cows. No political immunity. No selective justice. Just evidence, due process and the law.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ntufam Hilliard Eta, has called on the nation’s anti-corruption agencies to fully investigate allegations and petitions against former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and prosecute him if evidence establishes any criminal offence. Addressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday at the APC National Secretariat, Eta said the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17519,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17518\/revisions\/17519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}