The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yekini Nabena, has called on security agencies to probe the recent “strategy meeting” held by ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and some leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in Dubai.
Atiku, who is the presidential candidate of the PDP for the 2019 general elections, met with some leaders in Dubai recently.
In a statement on Sunday, Nabena said security agencies should probe the “real motive” behind the trip.
He said, “There is more to the meeting that meets the eye. Nigeria has enough meeting/conference rooms, many of which meet international standards. 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.”
The APC chief described the meeting which was attended by Atiku, his running mate, Mr. Peter Obi; Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki; and the party’s National Chairman, Uche Secondus, as both “comical and ridiculous.”
He claimed that the personalities involved in the said meeting had had a series of meetings in a similar fashion in Nigeria but that it was obvious that the meetings failed to yield the desired results, hence a follow-up in Dubai.
Nabena urged security agencies to check suspicious movements of cash, especially by politically exposed persons both locally and internationally.
The statement read in part, “We are mindful of how millions of dollars were confiscated in an aircraft belonging in a Nigerian PDP sympathiser in South Africa in the lead-up to the 2015 elections.
“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.”
