As Customs officer, Atiku breached Nigeria’s Constitution — Tinubu

The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the weekend described the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar as lawbreaker.

Tinubu’s allegation was on the heels of revelation by the PDP presidential candidate at his interview session with the Arise TV crew on Friday.

During the interview, Atiku disclosed that as Customs Officer at Idi Iroko Border, he ran a private haulage business.

Tinubu in a statement issued and signed by Bayo Onanuga, Director, Media & Communication Tinubu Campaign Organisation said Atiku’s claim that “there is no law stopping public officers from doing business in Nigeria” was untrue.

“We have watched Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s interview on ARISE Television and were extremely shocked by the many lies and ignorance displayed by the Peoples Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.

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“In the interview, Alhaji Atiku exposed himself as a man who is not prepared for the job he is applying for and a man who cannot be entrusted with our commonwealth. He was flippant in his response to important questions about his record of service and how he made money while serving in Customs. He muddled up facts and exhibited befuddling absence of mind.

“It was most shocking Atiku admitted that he cheated the system for decades and engaged in gross misconduct as a government worker. As a customs officer at the Idi-Iroko border, Atiku revealed that he ran a commercial taxi service, claiming ‘there is no law stopping public officers from doing business in Nigeria’. He punched harder, claiming there is no conflict of interest in doing so.

“We found this to be untrue.

“Every officer in the civil service is expected to comply with a code of conduct and service rules which bar civil and public servants from engaging in private business while in government employment to the detriment of the service he/she is employed to render to the public. The 1999 constitution further codifies this in Part I, Fifth Schedule, Section of 2 (b).

“It says a public officer shall not, except where he is not employed on full-time basis engage or participate in the management or running of any private business, profession or trade. The rules however allow a public officer to engage in farming.

“We wonder which rule or which law Atiku was relying upon for his gross misconduct as a public officer. It is our considered view that Atiku gamed the system all through his career in public service, culminating in his founding of the Intel Logistics along with Late Shehu Yar’Adua and some Italians, even while he was still in the employment of the Nigeria Customs Service.”

The Tinubu Campaign Organization further declared that the PDP presidential candidate displayed a “poor knowledge of key sectors of the economy: We also found it surprising that the PDP presidential candidate does not know the contribution of oil and gas industry to Nigeria’s GDP. He claimed the sector represents 20% of our national GDP whereas it is below 10 percent and it is still falling owing to the growth of non-oil sector under the current All Progressives Congress led administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. “