Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has clapped back at President Bola Tinubu’s government, saying “whitewashing Tinubu’s drugs scandal will not erase records that he forfeited $460,000 linked to heroin trafficking.”

A statement by Mr Abubakar’s media office on Thursday described the presidency’s response to Mr Tinubu’s drug case being reported to U.S. authorities as “shameless and reckless.”

“Our attention has been drawn to a reckless and shameful press statement signed on behalf of President Bola Tinubu by his media aide, Bayo Onanuga,” the statement said. “The statement attempts to bury the records of the narcotics trafficking case against Bola Tinubu in the US under an unwieldy and hollow essay.”

Mr Abubakar’s team expressed shock “that the Presidency would claim that the narcotics trafficking charges against Tinubu have “long been settled” and rendered moot by an electoral mandate.”

Dismissing the presidency’s claim that Mr Tinubu’s cocaine case had been settled 30 years ago, the statement said, “This argument essentially admits that Tinubu indeed faced investigation for narcotics trafficking, but suggests that his current position as President grants him immunity, thereby wiping the records of his links to the heroin scandal clean.”

It also asked, “We challenge Bayo Onanuga and the Tinubu media team: if the case against their principal is truly time-barred, why are they so panicky about any attempt to revisit it? Why is President Tinubu blocking every move to unravel what is in his FBI/DOJ U.S. files?”

According to the statement, the Office of the President is more than a mere political position. It is an office that mirrors the soul of the society it governs. Having an alleged ex-trafficker in that office inflicts serious reputational damage on Nigeria’s image and on every Nigerian on the global stage.

“The presidency’s media team should be reminded that issues of criminal justice are never completely thrown out. They can be revisited at any material time, especially when new circumstances arise. Between 2023 and 2027, there has been a change of leadership in the United States. It is the duty of law enforcement agencies to determine whether the case can be reopened in the interest of justice,” the statement said.

It added, “Revisiting the narcotics case against a sitting president is not an affront to the intelligence of Nigerians. Rather, it is a bold attempt to ensure that the wheel of justice continues to turn. If President Tinubu has nothing to hide about his records in the US narcotics scandal, he should submit himself to the process of revisiting the case instead of resorting to his usual tactics — frustrating disclosures through frivolous court appeals or deploying his media team to issue long, hollow essays aimed at rewriting history for personal gain.”

Earlier on Thursday, the presidency took a swipe at Mr Abubakar, calling him a corrupt fellow who lacks the moral rectitude to report Mr Tinubu’s forfeiture of money in a cocaine trafficking case to the U.S. government.

Bayo Onanuga, spokesperson for Mr Tinubu, said in a statement, “When will Atiku Abubakar report himself to President Trump,” adding that the former vice president has “regrettably closed his eyes to the virtues of statesmanship, decorum, and propriety” and has continued “to diminish himself through reckless public statements and desperate political manoeuvres.”

Mr Onanuga said, “Nigerians have not forgotten the legacy of the privatisation programme under Atiku’s watch as vice president. He presided over an egregious privatisation heist, selling national assets to cronies for peanuts and causing thousands of job losses and unpaid salaries and pensions that President Tinubu is clearing today.”