LAGOS, Nigeria — Nigeria’s former Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, notified security agencies on Friday, August 7, 2026, regarding an unauthorised financial transfer into his private commercial bank account.
Golden Info reports that Phrank Shaibu, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication to Abubakar, issued a statement confirming the transaction originated from an unidentified source with the payment narration “Contribution Electioneering Campaign.”
Shaibu stated that neither Abubakar nor his campaign team solicited, authorised, or possessed any knowledge of the individual or entity responsible for the payment.
“The circumstances surrounding the transfer are deeply troubling to His Excellency,” Shaibu said, noting that the account is strictly private and its details are not in the public domain.
The communication queried how unknown persons obtained the confidential banking information. Shaibu warned that if a leading political figure’s financial privacy could be compromised, the banking data of ordinary citizens remains unprotected.
The statement suggested the information might have been obtained by individuals with privileged access. Shaibu described this possibility as “a grave abuse of power capable of exposing the account holder to kidnappers, terrorists, bandits, fraudsters and other criminal elements.”
The campaign characterised the incident as one of several suspicious activities occurring ahead of the upcoming general elections, describing it as “tired tactics that smack of character assassination.”
“Such desperate antics have failed before and will fail again,” Shaibu said, adding that Abubakar remains focused on offering practical solutions to the nation’s challenges.