Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has raised the alarm over a suspicious credit into one of his private bank accounts domiciled with a leading commercial bank in Nigeria.
Phrank Shaibu, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to Atiku Abubakar, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday, saying the transfer originated from an individual unknown to the former Vice President, with the narration, “Contribution Electioneering Campaign.”
According to the statement, neither Atiku nor his campaign solicited, authorised or had any knowledge of the individual or entity behind the payment.
Shaibu said the unauthorised transfer had raised serious concerns for the former Vice President, stressing that the account involved was a strictly private one whose details were not in the public domain.
He questioned how unknown persons obtained the confidential banking details of a private citizen, warning that if the private banking information of a former Vice President and a leading presidential candidate could be accessed and used without authorisation, then no Nigerian’s financial privacy was safe.
Shaibu also raised the possibility that the confidential information might have been obtained through persons with privileged access, describing such an act, if established, as a grave abuse of power capable of exposing the account holder to kidnappers, terrorists, bandits, fraudsters and other criminal elements.
He further described the incident as the latest in a series of suspicious developments ahead of next year’s general elections and urged Nigerians not to be distracted by what he called attempts at character assassination.
The presidential aide maintained that previous attempts to discredit Atiku had failed and would fail again, adding that the former Vice President remained focused on providing credible leadership and practical solutions to Nigeria’s challenges.