Atiku speaks on ‘enrichment’ as Customs officer, corruption allegations against wife

Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate has dismissed allegation that he used his position in the Nigerian Customs Service to perpetrate acts of corruption.

Abubakar made the remark on Wednesday in Abuja at a town hall meeting organised by the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Daria Media with support from the MacArthur Foundation tagged: “The Candidates“.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the allegation followed the controversial importation of 53 suit cases into the country in 1984 by a first class traditional ruler in the North.

Abubakar was the Customs Officer in Charge of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport when the suit cases were brought into the country.

He also refuted allegations that one of his wives had a case of money laundering to face in the United States of America, and could therefore, not travel abroad since the allegation.

It would be recalled that a United States Senate report had accused Atiku Abubakar of laundering over $40 million in suspicious funds into the United States between 2000 and 2008, using his fourth wife, Jennifer.

According to the report, which was written by the US Senate Sub-committee on Investigations, most of the funds were through wire transfers sent by offshore corporations to U.S. bank accounts.

Abubakar, in the town hall meeting, however, refuted the allegation, saying his wife had never been indicted or accused of such offence.

“My wife has not been indicted and she has not been charged, so there is no way you can hold her accountable, she has been traveling to America very often,“ he said.