2023

  Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar says he never collected any money from Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State for his 2023 election campaign. This is contained in a statement issued by the Atiku Media Office in Abuja on Thursday. The Media Aide to Atiku, Paul Ibe, who issued the statement, denied the reports making the rounds that Sanwo-Olu gave money to the former vice-president for his 2023 presidential election campaign. Atiku was the Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections. Ibe, in the statement, described the insinuations as a lie and kindergarten propaganda. He said that the report claimed that Sanwo-Olu made money purportedly belonging to Lagos State available to Atiku. The media aide stated that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was also credited with investigating the matter. Ibe described the report as ‘a blatant lie from the pit of hell; a contrived political hogwash and a futile campaign of calumny aimed at advancing a political interest against Abubakar’. He said that Atiku did not know Sanwo-Olu and had never met him before. “How is it possible for an Atiku who did not know and had no connection with Sanwo-Olu to have a transaction with him involving the exchange of money, let alone during the presidential election of 2023 in which his boss was a contestant? To what end would that be? he queried. Ibe advised the EFCC to make public the outcome of its alleged investigation, since it had been dragged into it. He called for an immediate halt to what he described as a voyage of misadventure and a campaign of calumny against the person and reputation of Atiku. NAN