The Atiku presidential campaign
organisation says it finds it amusing that the presidency tagged the HSBC as
corrupt over its prediction that a victory for President Muhammadu Buhari in
2019 will have a negative effect on the country.
In a recent report, the bank had
predicted that a Buhari second tenure would stunt the economy.
It also foretold that the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) would win the 2019 presidential election.
Reacting to the prediction, Garba
Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, said
the HSBC has no moral right to criticise Buhari or make predictions about his
potential second term.
Shehu accused the bank of
laundering more than $100 million for late Sani Abacha, former military head of
state.
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) also accused HSBC Bank of laundering proceeds of corruption
for over 50 Nigerians, including a serving senator.
In reference to statement made by
Buhari in 2011, the group in a statement issued on Monday, asked how Shehu could
accuse the bank of helping Abacha keep money if he did not steal.
In 2008, Buhari had claimed that
Abacha did not plunge the nation’s treasury.
“It is with amusement that we
read the statement by the Buhari administration condemning HSBC, the world’s
largest bank, simply because HSBC gave a verdict that Buhari’s re-election
would spell doom for Nigeria’s economy,” the statement read.
“In their statement, the
Presidency called HSBC ‘A bank that soiled its hand with millions of US dollars
yet-to-be-recovered Abacha loot’.
“They forgot that their
principal, Muhammadu Buhari said :“Abacha did not steal”. So if Abacha did not
steal, how could HSBC keep recovered Abacha loot? When you tell so many lies,
you begin to contradict yourself.”
The group claimed that “that some
of the record ₦12 trillion worth of debt which the Buhari administration has
saddled Nigeria with is actually funded from HSBC”.
The group asked the federal
government to desist from trading words and focus on governance.
“When they were taking their
money, the ever begging Buhari administration did not know that HSBC was
corrupt. It was after the HSBC told the truth about the Buhari government that
they knew that the HSBC is keeping looted funds,” the statement read.
“Only last month, the National
Bureau of Statistics revealed that our second quarter GDP growth rate was lower
than our first quarter GDP growth. Another quarter of negative growth and
Nigeria will enter a second recession under the Buhari administration.
“The same NBS published in
December 2017 that 7.9 million Nigerians lost their jobs in 21 months under
Buhari’s watch.
“These are the things that the
government should be focused on and not to haul infantile insults at the
world’s largest bank.”
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