Drug allegations: Your reference to Chinese legal system exposes you to public scrutiny — Atiku replies Tinubu

By Precious Mark

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has cautioned President Bola Tinubu against dragging foreign judicial systems into local political disputes, pointing out that he is exposing himself to increased public scrutiny.

Reacting to recent statements from the Presidency in a press release issued on Saturday by his media office, Atiku described the administration’s reference to Chinese legal standards as an embarrassing monumental own goal that ultimately exposes the President himself to sharper 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 realize that the maximum penalty under Chinese law for the most serious drug trafficking offenses is death,” he said.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate stressed that he has a clean legal record globally, with no indictment or conviction for narcotics, corruption, or any criminal activity in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world.

“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 offenses, or indeed any criminal offense whatsoever. That is an incontrovertible matter of public record,” Atiku declared.

He argued that if the administration wants to hold Nigerian public officials to Chinese standards, citizens have every right to ask how Beijing’s tough anti-narcotics authorities would view a civil forfeiture case involving $460,000 linked to drug trafficking allegations.

“China is renowned for its uncompromising approach to narcotics-related offenses 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,” he said.

Atiku also pointed to China’s zero-tolerance policy for financial misconduct in government, questioning how the administration can cite such a strict nation while dealing with its own domestic issues like budget padding and governance controversies.

“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. These are precisely the reasons the Presidency should have been more circumspect before invoking China,” he concluded.