ATIKU FAULTS PRESIDENCY OVER CHINA COMPARISON IN TINUBU DEFENCE
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By: Balogun Ibrahim
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has criticised the Presidency for citing China’s legal system while defending President Bola Tinubu, arguing that the comparison has only renewed public attention on allegations surrounding the President’s past.
In a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku described the Presidency’s argument as a “monumental own goal,” noting that China imposes some of the world’s harshest penalties for serious drug trafficking offences.
The statement followed an earlier response by the Presidency to reports that Atiku’s lobbying team in the United States had submitted petitions to President Donald Trump and the U.S. State Department over Tinubu’s 1993 civil forfeiture case and other related issues.
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According to Atiku, rather than addressing the issues raised, the Presidency resorted to personal attacks.
“When governments abandon facts for insults and substitute evidence with abuse, they unwittingly admit that they have run out of convincing answers. Nigerians expected clarification. What they received instead was a barrage of name-calling and political invective,” the statement said.
The former vice president argued that the Presidency’s decision to invoke China’s legal standards had backfired.
“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,” the statement added.
Atiku maintained that he has never been indicted or convicted of corruption, drug-related offences or any criminal offence in Nigeria or abroad.
According to him, this remains an undisputed matter of public record.
He further argued that if the Tinubu administration wished to use China as a benchmark for accountability, Nigerians were equally entitled to ask how Chinese authorities would have handled the 1993 U.S. civil forfeiture case involving $460,000, which U.S. authorities alleged was linked to narcotics trafficking and money laundering.
The statement noted that China is widely recognised for its strict anti-narcotics laws and uncompromising anti-corruption measures.
Atiku also extended the comparison to governance, alleging that under China’s system, controversies such as budget padding, abuse of office and allegations involving senior government officials would have attracted swift official action.
He further criticised the Presidency for portraying a recent response from the United States government to Nigeria’s diplomatic correspondence as proof that Tinubu had been cleared of wrongdoing.
According to Atiku, diplomatic exchanges between governments do not amount to judicial decisions or declarations of innocence.
He urged the Tinubu administration to focus on tackling Nigeria’s economic hardship, insecurity and governance challenges rather than engaging in political exchanges.
The latest statement marks another chapter in the ongoing war of words between the Presidency and the opposition over Tinubu’s past legal issues in the United States.
The dispute intensified after presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga argued on X that, even under China’s legal system, the allegations against Tinubu would not have warranted criminal prosecution.
Onanuga also accused Atiku of corruption during his time as vice president, claiming that if he were Chinese, he would have been imprisoned over the handling of Nigeria’s privatisation programme.
Atiku rejected the claims, insisting that the Presidency’s reliance on China’s legal standards had only strengthened scrutiny of the issues it sought to dismiss.
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