The Atiku Campaign on Wednesday accused APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of being connected to the tax consultancy, Alpha Beta which he claimed fleeced Lagos taxpayers of N100 billion from 2002 to date.
The spokesperson of the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Campaign Organization, Kola Ologbondiyan, made the allegation at a press conference, in Abuja, on Wednesday even as he demanded an unreserved apology over the allegation of fraud levelled against the PDP candidate by the Tinubu Campaign.
Recall that the Tinubu Campaign through campaign spokesman, Festus Keyamo had vowed to make life hell for Atiku over the allegations raised against him by a former associate, Michael Achimugu. He had among others alleged that that the PDP candidate formed Special Purpose Vehicles, SPVs to fleece the federal government.
Responding on behalf of the Atiku Campaign at the press conference in Abuja, Ologbondiyan challenged Tinubu to come clean about allegations of his involvement in the use of “Special Purpose Vehicles” especially the Alpha Beta Company to fleece Lagos State under the guise of tax collection milking the state of at least N100 billion between 2002 to date.
“This is the case in the vexatious plots by Asiwaju Tinubu to divert attention from his litany of atrocities by seeking to impugn the impeccable character of our Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, with the unfounded controversy of corruption.
“Today, the entire world has seen that the real Mr SPV; the Corruption kingpin, the real ‘artful dodger’ of Nigeria is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the ‘emilokan’ Presidential Candidate of the APC.
“Bola Tinubu, sensing that his many corrupt activities, especially his fleecing of Lagos State with many Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) companies was about to come to light, rushed to hire a serial blackmailer, as he has always done, to foul the public space with fabricated allegations against Atiku Abubakar.
“Nigerians now know of how Tinubu has been desperately trying to divert attention from his alleged use of Alpha Beta Consulting Limited and Alpha Beta LPP, companies he reportedly owned by proxy, to loot N100bn tax money belonging to Lagos State, since 2002.
“It is now in public domain how Alpha Beta, which has for over 20 years held the exclusive rights to collect taxes in Lagos State in return for a commission under very shady arrangements through which it reportedly siphoned billions of naira belonging to Lagos State.
“The public is now aware of a petition before an anti-corruption agency wherein Tinubu’s alleged SPV company was reported to have used another company which shares same address with Tinubu’s office on Idowu Taylor Street in Lagos to launder Lagos State funds.
Documents sighted in one of the anti-corruption agencies reveals that Tinubu’s SPV allegedly laundered over N20 billion ($46.5m) in different currencies to several companies, including payment of N1bn ($2.3m) to company that is widely known to belong to him.
“Bola Tinubu should come out clean and speak to these damning money laundering allegations against him.
“He should explain to Nigerians how billions of naira belonging to Lagos State and meant for the welfare of the people, reportedly found its way into Soft Alliance and ended in bits and pieces in foreign currencies into domiciliary accounts allegedly owned by him in commercial banks.”
