Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the Presidency for invoking China’s legal system in its defence of President Bola Tinubu, arguing that the comparison had instead drawn greater attention to allegations surrounding the President’s past.
Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the 2027 election, said the Presidency had scored a “monumental own goal” by citing China, where he said the most serious drug trafficking offences attract the death penalty.
Recall that the Presidency had earlier fired back at Atiku over reports that his lobbying group in the United States had submitted petitions to President Donald Trump and the US State Department regarding a 1993 civil forfeiture case against President Bola Tinubu among other issues raised.
A swift reaction from Shaibu, asserted that the Presidency devoted its response to attacking his person while failing to address the substantive issues that had continued to attract public attention.
“When governments abandon facts for insults and substitute evidence with abuse, they unwittingly admit that they have run out of convincing answers.
“Nigerians expected clarification. What they received instead was a barrage of name-calling and political invective,” the statement read.
In a new statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president said the Presidency’s attempt to score political points had instead exposed Tinubu to deeper public scrutiny.
“It takes a peculiar kind of unintelligence for a spokesman to set out to drag an opponent before a hypothetical Chinese court, only to end up dragging his own principal into the dock.
“Perhaps, the spokesman did not realise that the maximum penalty under Chinese law for the most serious drug trafficking offences is death. Having chosen China as his benchmark, he unwittingly invited Nigerians to examine the very standard he thought would embarrass Atiku Abubakar,” the statement read in part.
Atiku maintained that he had never been indicted or convicted of corruption, drug-related offences or any criminal offence in Nigeria or abroad.
“The facts are neither complicated nor disputable. Atiku Abubakar has never been indicted or convicted by any court in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world for corruption, narcotics offences or, indeed, any criminal offence whatsoever. That is an incontrovertible matter of public record,” Shaibu said on behalf of his principal.
The ADC chieftain argued that if the Tinubu administration intended to use China as a benchmark for accountability, Nigerians were equally entitled to question how Chinese authorities would have treated “a case involving $460,000 forfeited to the United States Government in a civil forfeiture proceeding concerning funds alleged to be connected to narcotics trafficking and money laundering.”
According to him, China is known for its strict anti-narcotics laws and tough stance on public accountability.
“China is renowned for its uncompromising approach to narcotics-related offences and public accountability. It is not a jurisdiction where the forfeiture of suspicious proceeds ordinarily marks the end of official scrutiny. More often than not, that is where scrutiny begins,” the statement added.
Atiku also extended the comparison to corruption, accusing the Tinubu administration of failing to uphold accountability standards.
He claimed that under China’s system, allegations of budget padding, abuse of office and the creation of a fake government agency would have attracted swift official action.
“Not in China would a president sign into law a national budget immersed in scandals, padding and duplicitous appropriations. Not in China would a President look the other way while a senior presidential aide faces grave allegations of creating a fake government agency. Not in China would a government campaign on Renewed Hope only to deliver renewed hardship to its citizens,” he stated.
The former vice president further criticised the Presidency for presenting a recent response from the United States Government to Nigeria’s diplomatic correspondence as proof that Tinubu had been exonerated.
“The Presidency should also stop brandishing the United States Government’s reply to its diplomatic correspondence as though it were a judicial acquittal. Diplomatic correspondence between sovereign governments is routine. It is neither a judgment of a court, nor a declaration of innocence, nor an instrument for rewriting history,” he said.
He urged the administration to focus on addressing Nigeria’s economic and security challenges rather than engaging in political distractions.
“The Tinubu administration would do better to devote its dwindling political capital to confronting the economic hardship, rising hunger, insecurity and institutional decline afflicting Nigerians instead of manufacturing diversions that collapse at the slightest contact with the facts,” Atiku added.
The latest exchange is the newest chapter in the war of words between the Presidency and the opposition over Tinubu’s past legal issues in the United States.
The controversy resurfaced after the Presidency cited a response from US authorities to diplomatic inquiries as evidence that there were no outstanding criminal proceedings against the President.
In defending its position, a presidential spokesman reportedly referenced China, arguing that even under the Asian country’s legal system, the allegations against Tinubu would not have warranted criminal prosecution.
Atiku rejected the argument, insisting that invoking China’s legal standards only heightened public scrutiny because of the country’s stringent penalties for serious drug-related crimes and its tough anti-corruption regime.
The statement was a reaction to a post by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga on his verified X handle on Friday, in which he accused Atiku of corrupt practices while in office and said that, had he been Chinese, he would have been jailed.
“Nigerians have not forgotten the legacy of the privatisation programme under Atiku’s watch as vice president. He presided over an egregious privatisation heist, selling national assets to cronies for peanuts and causing thousands of job losses and unpaid salaries and pensions that President Tinubu is clearing today.
“A man with such a dismal record as a public servant certainly has no business asking for our votes. Indeed, if Atiku Abubakar were a Chinese, he would be rotting away in jail for his crimes against the Nigerian people,” Onanuga wrote.
