The National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Yusuf Dantalle, has urged former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to either publicly reveal the names of opposition leaders allegedly receiving ₦50 million from the Bola Tinubu-led administration or issue an immediate apology.
Dantalle’s call comes in response to Atiku’s recent claim that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has been offering financial inducements to opposition members to weaken their political stance.
According to reports, during a national conference on strengthening democracy in Nigeria, held on Monday in Abuja, Atiku alleged that the APC was paying opposition parties ₦50 million each to undermine the country’s democracy. His statement has since sparked controversy, with opposition leaders strongly denying the claims.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television program aired on Friday, Dantalle rejected Atiku’s allegations, asserting that no opposition leader he is aware of has accepted such funds.
He argued that such accusations only breed unnecessary suspicion and division among opposition parties.
Dantalle maintained that no national chairman or opposition leader had received the alleged payments and challenged Atiku to present concrete evidence to support his claims.
“You have to be careful what you say so that you don’t unnecessarily hit up the polity,” Dantalle cautioned.
“Yes, you have your information as Atiku Abubakar, but that is not enough for you to come out and say that all oppositions, or all members of the opposition family, are collecting ₦50 million.
“As far as I know, my party the Allied People’s Movement and today, I am managing the Secretariat of the umbrella body of all the political parties in Nigeria, there is no national chairman, no leader anywhere collecting any money that I know.
“If you are coming out to say, okay, fine, so, so and so are collecting the money, to give a lead to what you are saying, it is different,” he said.
Dantalle stressed that Atiku’s remarks have sown unnecessary distrust among opposition parties, casting doubt on his own position. He urged the former Vice President to either disclose the names of those allegedly involved or issue a public apology.
“You have succeeded in creating mutual suspicion. So what I think Atiku Abubakar should do, with all due respect, is to either apologize publicly to opposition leaders in totality, the same way he made this allegation, or he identify and mention opposition leaders who are involved in this rubbish.
“But for us in the Inter Party, Advisory Council, we are not aware of what Atiku is insinuating. Sincerely.
“Everything and anything is possible in politics. But what I’m saying, I’m restricting this to the Inter Party Advisory Council, that’s the 19 registered political parties that I know today, there is no such sign that anybody has collected ₦50 million,” he added.
Dantalle also suggested that Atiku might have been misled by individuals seeking financial benefits from him by falsely claiming that APC was bribing opposition leaders.
“I’ve Been speaking with the leaders of all the other opposition parties. I’ve spoken to the national chairman of SDP, I’ve spoken to national chairman of YPP, I’ve spoken to national chairman of PRP, national chairman of AA, national chairman of NRM and everybody seemed to be angry.
“It came to a point when I was not talking and it seemed as if I was involved in some of these things. It is embarrassing. And sincerely, we need an apology from the former Vice President or he should come out to identify and mention the people involved.
“In this situation, he claimed that ‘some opposition leaders’, it is possible that some persons want to get money from Atiku and they went to him and say ‘okay, this is what this person is giving us, so you can give us something like that’.
“It will be fair to all of us in the opposition family that you mention or identify the people who are involved in this, because I don’t know who is giving such money, and I don’t know who is collecting it.
“I’m saying this between me and God. This is capable of hitting up the polity unnecessarily. So as an elder statesman and as a leader, you are not supposed to make this kind of utterance, because you are hitting up the polity unnecessarily.
“He will be helping us if he identifies these persons, even if he doesn’t want to mention directly, he can use a proxy to mention the people involved, or the parties or the leaders involved in this thing,” IPAC’s National Chairman stated.
Similarly, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) had previously challenged Atiku to provide evidence supporting his claim that the APC was offering ₦50 million bribes to opposition parties.