Atiku not being under US banking surveillance watch – Aide

Etim Ekpimah

Paul Ibe, spokesman to former Vice President Atiku Abubaka has denied report that his boss and his family are under watch list by the United States agency for financial crime.

An online news media, Premium Times on Monday had alleged that an agency of the US Department of Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) placed Atiku and his family members under close watch in the build-up to the 2019 general elections.

The report also alleged that many transactions that Atiku made through Shell Petroleum were highlighted as suspicious.

Ibe in a statement signed and made available to journalists on Tuesday, described the report as “recycled and regurgitated lies.”

“For the avoidance of doubt, Atiku Abubakar is not under any US watch list, neither has he been charged, or will ever be charged by the United States Justice Department or any other in a foreign jurisdiction.

“It will be recalled that these recycled lies were re-unearthed just before the February 23, 2019 Presidential election, and to put paid to them, His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar, applied for and received a US visa, whereupon he embarked on a visit to the United States on January 17, 2019. He stayed at a hotel just miles to the United States Department of Justice.

“Atiku Abubakar in the course of that trip was also received in audience, by officials of the United States Government.

“These ‘new’ reports are a desperate gambit to recast these discredited accusations. They are meant to divert the attention of Nigerians from the recent statement by the Secretary of State of the United States, Mr Mike Pompeo, announcing visa and travel bans for certain unnamed but notorious individuals,” he said in the statement.

According to Ibe, due to the recently held Edo governorship election in which Atiku’s party emerged victorious, the timing of the report ‘should give some thought to thinking people.’