A former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Saturday described as irresponsible and cheap politics, an attempt by the All Progressives (Congress) to link him to suspected fraudster, Ramon Abbas, aka Hushpuppi.
The ruling party had earlier on Saturday asked relevant security agents to probe the PDP chieftains including former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and Senator Dino Melaye, over alleged links to Hushpuppi who is standing trial in the United States over wire fraud in several countries across the world.
However, in a statement titled: “Cyber Criminals: APC’s Statement Irresponsible” issued by his media aide, Yusuph Olaniyonu, Saraki stressed that he had no form of association with the suspected fraudster.
The statement read:
“The statement credited to the APC, the ruling party in our country, is one of the ways by which our anti-graft agencies are weakened and why the fight against corruption in the country is often viewed with suspicion by the international community.
“This is because when these cyber-crime suspects were operating freely and openly displaying wealth, the APC saw nothing bad in their activities.
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“Also, the party at that time did not deem it necessary to call on the anti-graft agencies to investigate their activities.
“Also, since the arrest of those cybercrime suspects and the subsequent damage to the image and the economy of Nigeria as well as the crisis it created for Nigerians engaged in lawful businesses across the world, the ruling party had been muted (sic).
“The only time the APC deemed it necessary to make a statement was when it thought it should play dirty, cheap, and irresponsible politics.
“Dr. Saraki was the only political leader who has publicly made a statement through an Op-Ed article published in the Daily Trust newspaper of July 1, 2020, titled: ‘Cyber Criminals: Confronting The Few Who Dent Many.”
Opinions