The National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, Yusuf Dantalle, has called on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to either identify and name opposition leaders allegedly collecting N50 million from the President Bola Tinubu administration or issue a public apology for his claims.
Atiku had recently alleged that the Tinubu government is paying some opposition members N50 million to destabilize opposition parties.
Dantalle, who appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Friday, criticized Atiku’s remarks, stating that they were unfounded and risked heating up the polity unnecessarily. He demanded that Atiku provide evidence or retract his statement.
“You have to be careful what you say so that you don’t unnecessarily heat up the polity. Yes, you have your information as Atiku Abubakar, but that is not enough for you to come out and say that all oppositions, or all members of the opposition family, are collecting N50 million,” Dantalle said.
He emphasized that, to his knowledge, no opposition leaders were involved in such activities. “As far as I know, my party, the Allied People’s Movement, and today, I am managing the Secretariat of the umbrella body of all the political parties in Nigeria, there is no national chairman, no leader anywhere collecting any money that I know. If you are coming out to say, okay, fine, so, so and so are collecting the money, to give a lead to what you are saying, it is different.”
Dantalle further stated that Atiku’s allegations had created mutual suspicion among opposition parties. “You have succeeded in creating mutual suspicion. So what I think Atiku Abubakar should do, with all due respect, is to either apologize publicly to opposition leaders in totality, the same way he made this allegation, or he identify and mention opposition leaders who are involved in this rubbish.”
He reiterated that IPAC, which represents 19 registered political parties, was unaware of any such transactions. “But for us in the Inter-Party Advisory Council, we are not aware of what Atiku is insinuating. Sincerely. Everything and anything is possible in politics. But what I’m saying, I’m restricting this to the Inter-Party Advisory Council, that’s the 19 registered political parties that I know today, there is no such sign that anybody has collected N50m.”
Dantalle revealed that he had consulted with leaders of other opposition parties, all of whom denied the allegations and expressed anger over Atiku’s claims. “I’ve been speaking with the leaders of all the other opposition parties. I’ve spoken to the national chairman of SDP, I’ve spoken to the national chairman of YPP, I’ve spoken to the national chairman of PRP, the national chairman of AA, the national chairman of NRM, and everybody seemed to be angry. It came to a point when I was not talking, and it seemed as if I was involved in some of these things. It is embarrassing. And sincerely, we need an apology from the former Vice President or he should come out to identify and mention the people involved.”
He suggested that Atiku’s claims might have been influenced by individuals seeking financial gain. “In this situation, he claimed that ‘some opposition leaders’, it is possible that some persons want to get money from Atiku and they went to him and say ‘okay, this is what this person is giving us, so you can give us something like that’. It will be fair to all of us in the opposition family that you mention or identify the people who are involved in this, because I don’t know who is giving such money, and I don’t know who is collecting it.”
Dantalle concluded by urging Atiku to act responsibly as an elder statesman. “I’m saying this between me and God. This is capable of heating up the polity unnecessarily. So as an elder statesman and as a leader, you are not supposed to make this kind of utterance, because you are heating up the polity unnecessarily. He will be helping us if he identifies these persons, even if he doesn’t want to mention directly, he can use a proxy to mention the people involved, or the parties or the leaders involved in this thing.”
The All Progressives Grand Alliance had earlier also challenged Atiku to provide evidence to back his claims that the APC is bribing opposition parties with N50 million. The demand from IPAC and APGA underscores the growing tension within the opposition camp following Atiku’s allegations.