APC wants EFCC to investigate Atiku's Dubai meeting saying it was a cover used to launder cash

ALL Progressives Congress (APC) officials have asked Nigeria's anti-graft agencies to the recent strategy meeting organised by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in Dubai saying there is more to it than meets the eye.

 

Over the last week, Alhaji Abubakar met with top PDP officials in Dubai to draw up strategies on how they will go about fighting next February's elections. According to the APC though, the Dubai gathering could have just been a cover to launder money as nothing prevented the PDP from holding its strategy meeting in Nigeria.

 

Yekini Nabena, the APC's deputy publicity secretary, said that there is a real motive behind the meeting in Dubai as Nigeria has enough meeting and conference facilities for any kind of meeting. According to Mr Nabena, the anti-graft agencies should probe to see if Alhaji Abubakar used the event as a cover to move large sums of money abroad.

 

He added: “There is more to the meeting that meets the eye. Nigeria has enough meeting/conference rooms, many of which meet international standards, so it is therefore clear that the Dubai meeting was for other sinister political purposes ahead of the 2019 general elections.

 

 “Our intelligence, anti-graft and security agencies must be awake to its responsibility of investigating the Dubai meeting. Cash-and-carry politicians must be prevented from moving illicit cash around to induce voters and sponsor election violence and rigging.

 

However, the PDP responded saying the APC’s fretting over the Dubai meetings was defeatist and a clear sign that the ruling party was already petrified ahead of the 2019 electoral contest. Among those who attended the Dubai meeting included PDP vice presidential candidate Peter Obi, senate president Senator Bukola Saraki and the party’s national chairman Prince Uche Secondus.

 

Mr Nabena insisted however: “Another round of election is here and it is not unlikely that they are playing a repeat performance under the guise of holding a meeting in Dubai. Our security agencies should be on the watch for a stitch in time saves nine.”

 

“Clearly, the meetings held in Nigeria did not yield their desired results, hence, a follow-up meeting in Dubai but we know the way of these politicians and the political party they represent. Relevant agencies must check suspicious movement of cash both locally and internationally by politically exposed persons under the guise of a Dubai meeting or any clandestine meeting."

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