The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the President-elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was not in the position to fight corruption because he is allegedly corrupt.
Tinubu, while commissioning some judiciary projects in Rivers state, had pledged that his administration would fight corruption.
However, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, while briefing journalists, Friday in Abuja, described the statement credited to the President-elect as sacrilegious and an assault on the sensibility of Nigerians, “given his records of alleged corruption and having been described variously as an embodiment of corruption in his public life.”
The publicity scribe alleged that it was in the public domain that as Governor of Lagos state, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, allegedly promoted and institutionalised corruption as an act of governance.
Ologunagba also alleged that, “It is on record that Senator Tinubu is alleged to be deeply involved in the infamous cases involving Alpha Beta Consulting Limited and Alpha Beta LLP, allegedly owned and controlled by him and through which over N100 billion belonging to Lagos state was reportedly stolen through shady tax collection deals.
“It is also public knowledge that there has been numerous allegations and evidence of corruption and complicity by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the declaration of Senator Tinubu as winner of the February 25, 2023 Presidential election. “Today Nigerians and indeed the world believe that that declaration was a product of corruption of the Process, Institutions and the Law by the APC and its Presidential candidate.
“It is therefore ludicrous that an individual who has been widely alleged to be an enabler and beneficiary of corruption can attempt to put himself forward to Nigerians as a champion of anti-corruption. Of course, corruption cannot fight corruption!
“If indeed Senator Tinubu is desirous of fighting corruption, the starting point should be that he publicly and personally addresses Nigerians on the numerous allegations of corruption, including the Alpha Beta cases and alleged improper acquisition and conversion of Lagos state government landed property worth billions of naira to himself, family, associates and cronies.
“Clearly, Senator Tinubu’s pontificating or claims on corruption are a further attempt to corrupt, cultivate, patronise, lure, and compromise, the Judiciary ahead of the commencement of the hearing of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal on Monday, May 8, 2023 and nothing more.
“The PDP therefore calls on the Judiciary to be wary of attempts by the APC and its presidential candidate to patronise them in the course of the discharge of their Constitutional duties as impartial arbiter, particularly in the pending Petition before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.”
