The Presidential candidate for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, faces questioning over his role in the demise of Bank PHB.
This was revealed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed who was speaking to state house correspondents on Friday.
He said that the Government has proof which links Atiku to a company, Claremont Management Services, through which he benefited N156 million in 2009, this according to Mohammed, was a major reason for the collapse of the bank.
“I have come to make few remarks about the recent visit of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party to the US. You can recall that few weeks ago, I did issue a statement advising the US government not to issue visa to Atiku,” Mohammed said
“Remember also that in that same press conference, I also stated that it remains the prerogative of the US government to issue visa to anyone it deems fit.
READ: An Open Letter To Atiku From A Dissatisfied Nigerian
“In any event, any time Abubakar returns home, he has questions to answer following the fresh evidence that we have that he benefitted from slush funds that led to the collapse of the former Bank PHB.
“The document we have shows that he benefitted to the tune of N156 million from that slush fund. The paper which we have here started from an internal memo on the Jan. 13, 2009, in which reads please refer for discussion your requested overdraft in favour of Atiku Abubakar for N156 million and deliver same to me.
“Please note that it must be delivered today(Jan. 13) on the same date, another memo was generated to confirm—please confirm that the amount stated below be issued from Claremont Management Services account. And we have evidence here of the account mandate—the name of Atiku Abubakar; we also have a copy of the cheque in which the sum of N156 million was issued to Atiku Abubakar dated Jan. 13, 2009 and of course we also have statement of account within that period that confirms that this sum was actually paid into his account.
“These are fresh evidence as to his involvement in the collapse of Bank PHB, so want to him to stay as long he wants in the US but as soon he comes back; he has to explain to the electorate and to Nigerians what is his role in the collapse in the former Bank PHB.”