Arrest: “Atiku Will Not Be Blackmail Into Mortgaging His Mandate” – Paul Ibe

Paul Ibe, the media adviser of Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, has assured Nigerians that under no circumstance will he (Atiku) mortgage the mandate of Nigerians as freely expressed on the 23rd of February, 2019.

This assurance comes against the backdrop of the invasion and arrest of Alhaji Babalele Abdullahi, son in-law and finance director of his group of companies in Abuja on Saturday, 2 March, 2019.

Ibe, the media adviser of Atiku, according to Daily Trust, said the arrest was a desperate move to have the former Vice President concede and congratulate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

Atiku rejected the result of the presidential election, saying he would challenge it in court.

“The EFCC agents numbering about two dozen came in 2 regular vehicles, an 18-seater Toyota bus (registration Abuja CS 522 RSH) and a hilux van. They came with a search warrant to search the house and office of Babalele and found nothing incriminating. They then proceeded to his office at Oakland Centre in Maitama and found nothing incriminating there. However, they took away some documents of landed property. Not done, the EFCC officials stormed his Wuse residence where they again found nothing incriminating after the search,” Mr Ibe noted in a statement.

He added Babalele was taken away to the EFCC office in Wuse to make a statement alongside Mr. Lawan Ayuba.

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“It was gathered that the petition relied upon to invade the residence and office of Babalele was authored by a brother of the wife of President Buhari. As a law abiding citizen, Atiku Abubakar recognizes the constitutional role of the EFCC and indeed any other agency of the government to carry out investigations, but will not be cowed by any attempt to blackmail him into mortgaging his mandate,” he said.

A top official of the EFCC declined comment on the arrest. The spokesperson of the commission also didn’t respond to numerous phone calls and  message sent to him on Saturday.