Atiku Abubakar is a well-known name in the Nigerian political society. He is the presidential candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 presidential election.
He has in times past faced corruption allegations that prior to his emergence as presidential candidate of the PDP ahead the 2023 presidential election.
Below is a list of some of the corruption allegations made against Atiku Abubakar.
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Corruption allegations made against Atiku Abubakar
During the run-up to the 2019 election, President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign team claimed that Atiku Abubakar was not only corrupt but was also known to be so on a global scale.
Festus Keyamo, Director of Strategic Communications for the president’s campaign group, claimed that any accusations made by Mr. Abubakar’s campaign were an intentional attempt to draw attention away from Atiku Abubakar’s history of corruption and abuse of office.
In his list of allegations, Mr. Keyamo claimed there were “indisputable facts surrounding Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.”
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Keyamo claimed that the 2019 PDP presidential candidate was one of four well-known architects of embezzlement in the world, according to a report by the US Congress.
He reported as saying “Jennifer Abubakar, a United States, citizen, is also the fourth wife of Atiku Abubakar, the former Vice President of Nigeria and a previous presidential contender for Nigeria from 2000 till 2008 Ms. Douglas helped her husband bring over $40 million in suspect funds into the United States, including at least $1.7 million in bribe payments, and over $38 million from little known offshore corporations”.
Festus Keyamo stated that Atiku hopes to secure a visa to travel to the US as a guest of the State Department, which is a favor the US will extend to a presidential contender from Africa’s largest nation.
“In the United States, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is going to be secretly tried. He will be charged on the day he arrives in the United States, not as a candidate in an election”, he added.
Keyamo went on to state embezzlement of public funds, bribery, fraud, and tax evasion among corruption allegations against Atiku Abubakar.
In June 2019, the Federal Government said it had possession of fresh evidence allegedly linking Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to the collapse of Bank PHB.
Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed alleged that Atiku slushed an N156m fund that he took from the bank through Claremont Management Services Account on 13th January 2009.
“The document we have shows he benefited to the tune of N156m from that slush fund.
“The paper which we have here started from an internal memo on January 13, 2009, which reads, ‘Please refer for discussion, your requested overdraft in favor of Atiku Abubakar for N156m and deliver same to me,” Lai said.
In September 2020, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), an agency of the U.S. Department of Treasury, placed Atiku Abubakar and his family members under close watch over alleged financial fraud.
FinCEN is said to have flagged some transactions linked to Atiku that were suspicious as it surveilled money movements within the international financial system.
A total of $40 million was identified in the investigation by the US Senate, with $25 million reportedly wire-transferred into more than 30 U.S. bank accounts in favor of Jennifer Douglas, Atiku’s fourth wife.
In February 2007, an inquiry by the Nigerian Senate recommended for the PDP presidential candidate to be prosecuted for siphoning money to companies he was connected to.
The investigation was launched after corruption charges were forwarded by Atiku’s former boss, Olusegun Obasanjo. Atiku was accused of aiding companies to divert $145m from the Nigerian government to accounts to banks.
However, Despite the corruption allegations against Atiku from different quarters, the former Vice President has never been detained or tried for the suspicions.
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