The Federal Government on Friday said that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential election, Atiku Abubakar must be arrested when he returns from his trip to the United States of America ( US) .
The FG said he has questions to answer over the roles he played in the collapse of Bank PHB.
Atiku who has not visited the US in 13 years, arrived Washington DC on Thursday, ahead of his schedule engagement with the US Chamber of Commerce on Friday.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, told State House Correspondents during briefing, that Atiku has questions to answer “following fresh evidence that he benefitted from slush funds that led to the collapse of Bank PHB”.
According to the minister, the government has in its possession “paper trail ” which shows that Atiku benefitted from a N156million deal .
“It started from an internal memo dated 13 January 2009 asking that a draft in favour of Atiku Abubakar of N156 million should be raised,” he said.
Mohammed further disclosed that another memo on the same date was raised to confirm that the amount was raised from a “claimant management account”.
The minister said the government has proof of the account mandate, cheque and account statement showing Atiku as the signatory to the account that received the money.
“We want him to stay in the US for as long as he wants but he has to explain to Nigerians when he returns,” he said.
Mohammed speaking in the visit, recalled that the government had earlier issued
statement advising the US not to issue him a visa.
He however, said it remains the prerogative of the US government to issue visa to anyone.
The Minister assured that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was not perturbed about the latest American trip of the opposition presidential candidate, even though they dared him to visit the country initially.
According to the Minister, Atiku could go ahead to obtain the American green card, but it would not stop his defeat in the forthcoming polls slated for February 16.
