As Nigerians head to polling booths to choose a President to succeed Muhammadu Buhari in the Spring of 2023, it is worth noting that two of the frontline candidates–Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu–have had to deal with corruption allegations throughout their respective political careers.
Tinubu is of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) while Abubakar is the candidate of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Here are the graft allegations that have trailed and dogged the septuagenarians for decades:
Tinubu
1..In July 1993, the United States government filed a forfeiture lawsuit in Chicago against bank accounts opened in Tinubu’s name.
At the time, Tinubu was a serving Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The U.S believed that these bank accounts belonging to Tinubu, held monies that could be traced to narcotic drug dealings–namely heroin.
Bloomberg reports that “the case followed a probe by the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies into a trafficking network involving Nigerian suppliers.”
The IRS had previously secured warrants in January 1992 to seize almost $2million of the monies traced to Tinubu’s accounts.
While residing in Chicago between 1989 and 1991, Tinubu deposited more than $1.8million into one of the accounts, before transferring large sums to another bank, according to the US government.
In September 1993, Tinubu settled the case out of court. The Nigerian politician agreed to give up $460,000 to the US government in exchange for the release of the rest of the monies.
He wasn’t indicted.
2..Tinubu is still battling allegations of using a company managed by proxies, to profit from taxes paid by hardworking Lagos residents and businesses.
In June of 2021, an estranged founder of Alpha Beta Consulting LLP, sued Tinubu and the company for wiring millions of dollars in “suspicious monetary transfers,” while denying him his share of profits for more than a decade.
There are insinuations that Tinubu is entitled to 10% of taxes collected by Alpha Beta in Lagos.
3..In June of 2021, the Chairman of Nigeria’s anti-graft commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, disclosed that Tinubu was being investigated for corruption.
4..During the 2019 general elections, Tinubu caused quite a stir when two bullion vans laden with cash, made entries into one of his luxury property in upmarket Bourdillon, Ikoyi.
Asked about the armoured bank vans at the time, Tinubu told reporters that: “If I have money to spend, if I like, I give it to the people for free of charge as long as it’s not to buy votes.”
5..In 2011, the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) tried and acquitted Tinubu for allegedly operating 10 foreign bank accounts during his spell as Lagos Governor from 1999 to 2007.
6..There are allegations that Tinubu receives a percentage from the tolling of Lagos’ roads, through front companies.
Tinubu, 70, has always maintained that the corruption allegations that have dogged his political career for decades, are “unsubstantiated.”
Atiku
1..Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, under whom Atiku served as Vice President from 1999 to 2007, has repeatedly labelled Atiku a “thief” in his memoirs, essays and interviews.
Obasanjo once said if he had allowed Atiku to succeed him in 2007, given what he knew about the man’s proclivity for corrupt enrichment, God wouldn’t have forgiven him.
According to Obasanjo, Atiku’s corruption baggage has been the major reason why the serial presidential candidate couldn’t enter the United States, until recently.
“The Americans wrote to the EFCC in June 2006, listing a number of people to be investigated. Atiku was one of them. The United States asked that Atiku be investigated. I could not in good conscience ask my Number 2 to be investigated.
“At that time, politically, I needed to carry him along,” Obasanjo disclosed.
2..In a report published in 2010 by the US Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, one of Atiku’s wives allegedly helped her husband ferry $40million in “suspect funds” into the US at a time Atiku was vice president of Nigeria.
Of that sum, at least $1.7million was used to bribe Siemens AG, the technology firm.
3..A former US lawmaker, William Jefferson, was sentenced to 13 years behind bars in 2009 because of corruption linked to Atiku.
The court found Jefferson guilty of taking bribes from American companies interested in doing business in Nigeria and Ghana.
In 2005, Jefferson had told a witness that as Nigeria’s second in command, Atiku had agreed to accept a bribe in exchange for his assistance in facilitating the deals.
4..In 2007, the EFCC declared Atiku unfit to hold public office, with a Nigerian Senate panel recommending his prosecution for allegedly diverting public funds.
5..Some of the monies allegedly laundered by Atiku and his wife, were used to acquire choice property and prime real estate across the United States and to erect an American University in Nigeria.
Like Tinubu, Atiku has continued to deny that he made his fortune from corruption proceeds. “On the issue of corruption, I have challenged anyone, anywhere, who has any evidence of corruption against me to come forward. I’m sure they would have combed everywhere trying to find anything incriminating against me, but they have not found it, or they are still searching,” Atiku boasted.
Ahead of the 2019 elections, Atiku was temporarily allowed to visit the United States “because he had a reasonable chance of winning” the election.