Code of Conduct Bureau invites Keyamo over petition against Atiku

The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has commenced action on the petition filed by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, against former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

Mr Keyamo, a spokesperson for the campaign council of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, had in a petition filed in January, called for an investigation into the corruption allegations levelled against Atiku by a former aide, Michael Achimugu.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Keyamo sent the petition to several anti-graft agencies, including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and CCB.

Mr Keyamo, on 16 January, gave the anti-graft agencies 72 hours to investigate, arrest and prosecute the PDP presidential candidate.

The CCB, in a letter dated 28 March and signed by its Director of Intelligence, Investigation and Monitoring, Sebastian Gwimi, asked Mr Keyamo to appear at the bureau’s office in Abuja to adopt his petition.

Mr Keyamo is scheduled to appear before the CCB on Friday 21 April.

“This invitation is to enable you adopt the aforementioned petition and to provide any additional information that may be material to this investigation.

“You are requested to come along with one Michael Achimugu, to assist with enquiries regarding the attachments to your petition,” the letter reads.

Mr Achimugu, who claimed to be a former aide of Atiku, in a series of social media posts, accused Atiku of using Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) to commit financial fraud.

Mr Keyamo, at the end of the expiration of the 72 hours ultimatum, filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja seeking an order compelling the security agencies to arrest Atiku.

Keyamo, Atiku’s camp react The minister shared the CCB’s invitation letter and a statement from his law firm, Festus Keyamo Chambers on the matter via his Twitter timeline on Thursday.

The statement, issued by John Anietor, said Mr Keyamo will see the case to a logical conclusion, noting that it is not a political gimmick.

“The Bureau has invited our client Mr Festus Keyamo to come forward to adopt his petition and to help it to secure the presence of the whistleblower, Mr Michael Achimugu to assist in the investigation. See a copy of the letter below.

“Mr Keyamo assures that the crusade for accountability in respect of this issue was not a campaign gimmick as he promises to follow it through to a logical conclusion, even after the victory of the President-Elect, ASIWAJU Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.

Petition dead on arrival – Atiku’s campaign councilDaniel Bwala, the spokesperson for the Atiku Campaign, told PREMIUM TIMES that the invitation by the CCB was a formality to allow Mr Keyamo to adopt his petition.

He described the petition as “frivolous”, “fictitious” and “dead on arrival”.

He added that Mr Keyamo wrote the petition ahead of the election “for the optics and nothing more”.

Atiku was the Vice President from 1999-2007, and he is currently challenging the outcome of the 25 February presidential election that produced Mr Tinubu as the president-elect.