Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has challenged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to investigate and prosecute him if it has evidence linking him to any wrongdoing in the controversial $16 billion power sector expenditure.

Atiku, the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said the renewed allegations against him were a diversion from growing public demands for accountability over the funds accruing to the Federal Government following the removal of petrol subsidy.

He spoke in a statement issued on Wednesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu.

The former Vice-President said he had repeatedly made himself available for investigation, arguing that successive governments had sufficient opportunity to establish any case of corruption against him since he left office in 2007.

Atiku maintained that although he chaired the National Council on Privatisation during his tenure as Vice-President, he was not responsible for the implementation of the power projects linked to the $16 billion expenditure.

“The National Assembly investigated the power projects. I was never invited to answer any allegation of wrongdoing,” he said.

According to him, the relevant minister was responsible for implementing the projects, just as he was not directly responsible for the Aluminium Smelter matter being raised against him.

“I have repeatedly asked to be investigated. I left office in 2007 and have spent much of the period since then opposing governments in power. If there is evidence that I stole public money, why has no government produced it before a court?

“It is still not too late. Investigate me. Invite me. Produce the evidence. Prosecute me if you have a case. But propaganda cannot substitute for evidence,” Atiku said.

The ADC presidential candidate argued that the renewed focus on past privatisation and power sector controversies came at a time when Nigerians were demanding answers over the economic impact and management of revenues following the removal of petrol subsidy.

He said Nigerians had been assured that subsidy removal would free up resources for development, but accused the government of failing to provide sufficient answers on how the resulting funds were being managed.

“Today, petrol is more expensive, transportation is more expensive, food is more expensive and the purchasing power of the Nigerian worker has been devastated,” he said.

Atiku also questioned the government’s handling of fiscal incentives, waivers, tax credits and concessions, alleging that powerful economic interests continued to benefit while ordinary Nigerians faced rising living costs.

“So our question remains brutally simple: where is the people’s money?” he asked.

He accused the administration of double standards, alleging that reliefs available to poor Nigerians had been withdrawn while government interventions for powerful interests were defended as economic incentives.

Atiku further dismissed what he described as sponsored attacks on social media, insisting that such campaigns would not deter him from demanding accountability from the government.

“The people who removed subsidy from the poor cannot frighten us into silence by resurrecting allegations that governments with all the investigative machinery of the Nigerian state have had nearly two decades to establish,” he said.

“If you have evidence against Atiku, bring it. If you have a case, prosecute it. But if you have neither, stop manufacturing distractions and answer Nigerians: You removed the subsidy. You collected the savings. Where is the money?” he asked.