Pro-Atiku group: Garba Shehu has forgotten Buhari’s claim that Abacha didn’t steal

The Atiku presidential campaign organisation says it finds it amusing that the presidency tagged the HSBC as corrupt over its prediction that a victory for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019 will have a negative effect on the country.

In a recent report, the bank had predicted that a Buhari second tenure would stunt the economy.

It also foretold that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would win the 2019 presidential election.

Reacting to the prediction, Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, said the HSBC has no moral right to criticise Buhari or make predictions about his potential second term.

Shehu accused the bank of laundering more than $100 million for late Sani Abacha, former military head of state.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) also accused HSBC Bank of laundering proceeds of corruption for over 50 Nigerians, including a serving senator.

In reference to a comment made by Buhari, the group in a statement issued on Monday asked how Shehu could accuse the bank of helping Abacha keep money if he did not steal.

In 2008, Buhari had claimed that Abacha did not plunge the nation’s treasury.

“It is with amusement that we read the statement by the Buhari administration condemning HSBC, the world’s largest bank, simply because HSBC gave a verdict that Buhari’s re-election would spell doom for Nigeria’s economy,” the statement read.

“In their statement, the Presidency called HSBC ‘A bank that soiled its hand with millions of US dollars yet-to-be-recovered Abacha loot’.

“They forgot that their principal, Muhammadu Buhari said: “Abacha did not steal”. So if Abacha did not steal, how could HSBC keep recovered Abacha loot? When you tell so many lies, you begin to contradict yourself.”

The group claimed that “that some of the record ₦12 trillion worth of debt which the Buhari administration has saddled Nigeria with is actually funded from HSBC”.

The group asked the federal government to desist from trading words and focus on governance.

“When they were taking their money, the ever begging Buhari administration did not know that HSBC was corrupt. It was after the HSBC told the truth about the Buhari government that they knew that the HSBC is keeping looted funds,” the statement read.

“Only last month, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that our second quarter GDP growth rate was lower than our first quarter GDP growth. Another quarter of negative growth and Nigeria will enter a second recession under the Buhari administration.

“The same NBS published in December 2017 that 7.9 million Nigerians lost their jobs in 21 months under Buhari’s watch.

“These are the things that the government should be focused on and not to haul infantile insults at the world’s largest bank.”