Following the confession by United States congressman William Jefferson that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar never asked him for any bribe as he had led the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to believe, the Action Congress (AC) has asked former President Olusegun Obasanjo to tender an unconditional apology to former VP.

AC hinged its demand for apology for the former vice president on the ground that ex-President Obasanjo capitalized on the fraudulent allegations made by Jefferson to frustrate Atiku’s participation in the 2007 presidential polls.

A press statement issued in Abuja by AC National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said “Since the US Congressman has recanted his taped statement to the effect that he planned to bribe the former VP to facilitate a business deal, Obasanjo should have the courage to apologise to Atiku, whom he did everything to malign over the fraudulent allegations.”

“Obasanjo mobilised all the agencies of state, especially the EFCC and INEC, and set up an administrative panel whose findings led to the unconstitutional ban of the former VP - by a lapdog INEC - from running as our presidential candidate in the last general elections.
“Though the Supreme Court eventually overturned the unconstitutional ban, the damage had been done to such an extent that His Excellency Atiku Abubakar had no time left to wrap up his campaign.

“All along, the former VP had pleaded his innocence in the Jefferson bribery case - a pleading that fell on the deaf ears of those who were bent on stopping him from contesting at all cost. Now that he (Atiku) has been proved right, those behind his ordeal should own up and apologise to him, his teeming supporters and the Nigerian nation at large,” AC said.

The party said while the apology would not undo the damage that had been done, it would go a long way to show that Obasanjo was indeed on the path of penitence for his numerous, deliberate sins while in power.

It described as a ‘welcome irony’ the fact that those who led the pack in pointing the finger at Atiku over the Jefferson case were themselves now at the receiving end of a mind-boggling corruption allegation.
“They were sanctimonious, holier than thou and downright vindictive! How times change, and the hunter becomes the hunted!

AC said the party and its supporters never for once doubted the sterling integrity of its presidential candidate, even as the enemies sharpened their poisoned arrows for the kill, adding: “We have been vindicated!”