The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has alerted the public to a suspicious credit into one of his private bank accounts domiciled with a commercial bank in Nigeria.
Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday, noting that the transfer originated from a person unknown to the former Vice President and carried the narration “Contribution Electioneering Campaign.”
“Neither His Excellency nor his campaign solicited, authorised, or has any knowledge of the individual or entity behind the unauthorised payment,” the statement said.
Shaibu described the circumstances surrounding the transfer as deeply troubling to Atiku, stressing that the account is strictly private and that its details are not in the public domain.
“This raises a fundamental question: How did unknown persons obtain the confidential banking details of a private citizen?,” he asked.
The aide argued that if the private banking information of a former Vice President and a leading presidential candidate could be accessed and used for reasons yet unknown, then no Nigerian’s financial privacy is safe.
He lamented that even more disturbing was the suspicion that such confidential information might have been obtained through persons with privileged access. He emphasised that if established, this would amount to a grave abuse of power capable of exposing the account holder to kidnappers, terrorists, bandits, fraudsters, and other criminal elements.
Shaibu also alerted the Nigerian public and security agencies to the incident, describing it as part of what he called a litany of suspicious activities leading up to next year’s general elections.
He urged Nigerians not to be distracted by what he described as “tired tactics” that smack of character assassination as political activities gather momentum, maintaining that such desperate antics had failed before and would fail again.
He added that Atiku remains focused on offering Nigerians credible leadership and practical solutions to the nation’s challenges.
