*Details in court affidavit
A former aide to the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the February 25 presidential poll, Atiku Abubakar, has alleged that his former boss was indicted of corruption.
The aide, identified as Michael Achimugu, cited specifically a N100 million bribe allegwdly given by a former governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, to his ex-boss.
In a four-page affidavit of facts deposed at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (HC-FCT), Achimugu who said he is a media consultant and lives in Abuja, disclosed that Atiku, ex-Vice-President converted the monies donated to fund their party into his private use, using Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV).
In the affidavit, he stated: “That I later met Atiku Abubakar for further briefing on the issue and he further explained that the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) were what he used throughout his tenure as Vice-President to fund his private businesses and his family activities”.
In the affidavit he signed on December 2, 2022, the deponent said that between 2017 and 2022, he worked closely with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in media matters.
“That on or about the 13th of June 2021, there was an allegation of corruption against Atiku Abubakar regarding a N100 million bribe given to Atiku Abubakar by the former Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye”, he said.
He added: “That I sent an email to Atiku Abubakar to give me some explanation to reply the allegation
“Atiku Abubakar sent an email to me that reads as follows: “The money was paid into an SPV for party funding and the directors of Marine Float was Otunmba Fasewe, not Atiku.
“I then replied him as follows: “May I ask what an SPV is?”
“Atiku Abubakar responded as follows: “Special Purpose Vehicle. A company registered to carry out certain activities”.
He said to clarify this further, “Atiku immediately called his phone at around 8:55pm that June 13, 2018. He said he recorded their telephone conversation.
“In the conversation, Atiku opened up on secrets of the SPV, how he advised the then president against ‘open corruption’, how he ‘prepared three companies’ for the purpose of SPV and the president gave him three persons he trusted to be subscribers of the companies.
“The persons included, Fasewe, Andy Uba, “You know the guy from Borno State who died in the plane crash”. He said the account of the company was “well investigated by EFCC”.
He also did a video making the rounds where he repeated the allegations.
