By Onomavwe Ege

“You can’t buy a good reputation; you must earn it.” – Harvey Mackay

Presidential candidate of the crisis-torn Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar was in the news again for the wrong reasons when he infamously declared that “As Custom Officer, I Blocked You From Bringing Hard Drugs To Nigeria.” He was attacking APC Flag Bearer, Bola Tinubu.

In the above story, which was largely reported in the media, Atiku stated that while serving as Deputy Director of Customs in charge of Enforcement and Drugs, he stopped the ruling APC candidate and others from bringing hard drugs into the country.

The statement read, “Tinubu’s frustration is quite understandable given the fact that in 1989 while Atiku, a Federal officer, was serving as the Deputy Director of Customs in charge of Enforcement and Drugs and was protecting the country’s borders from smugglers and drug dealers, Tinubu was in bed with two notorious drug kingpins.

“American authorities revealed that Akande took Tinubu to a bank where he opened an account for himself and his wife Oluremi in 1989. While opening the account, the Lagos godfather revealed in documents that he worked with Mobil Nigeria Limited and his salary was $2,400 and he had no other sources of income. But records from his bank account showed that in 1990, he deposited $661,000 into his individual money market account and in 1991 deposited $1,216,500 into the same money market account.

“In a bid to protect their reputation, Mobil representatives told US authorities that even though Tinubu was a treasurer, he had no direct access to the company’s cash and thus could not deposit funds on behalf of the firm. Till date Tinubu has not been able to explain to any human being how he was able to save over $1.8 million from his monthly pay of $2, 400. Luckily for him, he was able to negotiate a deal with the US government which saw him forfeit over $460,000 in cash. Yet this is the same man that is taking the moral high ground, this must be the joke of the century. This is a man whose entire life is built on falsehood. He is not even brave enough to reveal the primary and secondary schools he attended for fear of the avalanche of dirt that will be unearthed about his life.”

But Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu are two sides of the same coin, with alleged odious past, who are sadly, permanent fixtures in the plague that has held Nigeria down since the dawn of this republic in 1999, and should have no place in a nation in dire need of rebirth and renewal.

According to a Bloomberg report, the duo’s past records shows that neither of them is free of corruption allegations. According to the report, the history of graft allegations surrounding the two candidates means neither is likely to curb corruption as we gradually approach February 25 when Nigerians will vote to choose a new President to succeed President Buhari.

According to Bloomberg, Bola Tinubu was being investigated by the country’s anti-corruption agency as recently as June 2021. Three decades ago he fought a lawsuit in which the US government accused him of laundering and eventually reached a settlement.

Conversely, according to Bloomberg, “Atiku Abubakar brought tens of millions of dollars of ‘suspect funds’ into the US when he was Nigeria’s vice president in the 2000s, according to a US Senate report, and was implicated in a bribery case that resulted in the imprisonment of an American congressman.”

According to Reuters, Atiku Abubakar featured prominently in the trial of former U.S. Representative, who was accused of trying to bribe him in an effort to expand a technology business in Nigeria. The former U.S. Representative was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 13 years in prison. His sentence was subsequently reduced.

For Tinubu, being associated with drug peddling that destroys millions of lives yearly is very worrisome. These allegations are yet to be refuted by Tinubu and APC Presidential campaign council.

It has now been judicially established beyond all reasonable doubt that Tinubu was indicted as a co-defendant in a federal case.

Not only was he indicted, he was fingered as the bag man for a cartel. And rather than fight those charges, Tinubu agreed to forfeit a colossal sum of $460,000 to the US government in 1993.

What does Tinubu’s agreement to forfeit a whopping $460,000 mean?

According to legal experts, forfeiture is equivalent to a conviction, in the sense that the accused is not fighting the charges against him/her on their merits, and has rather reached a plea bargain.

According to a national daily, “having a man such as Bola Tinubu, as President, is a serious national security risk. He will be vulnerable to blackmail from foreign intelligence agencies.”

Attempting to vote for either Atiku Abubakar or Bola Ahmed Tinubu will amount to turning our beloved country into the butt of jokes in the international community by electing persons with such history as our President.

Mr. Ege wrote from Warri.