Wife of the Peoples Democratic Party’s Presidential Candidate, Titi Abubakar, has said that her husband is not a thief, and all the stories swirling around him are just misconceptions. She added that Atiku Abubakar is responsible for the creation of EFCC and ICPC, after which she expressed her confidence in him to win the upcoming 2019 presidential election. 
According to an interview she had with Punch, Titi disclosed that the first experience she had with him proves that he is anything but a corrupt man. She was quoted to have said that: “People have different misconceptions about him but I keep telling them that I know him very well; he is the husband of my youth. Atiku is not a thief. If Atiku was a bad person, as a Customs officer in charge of Idiroko border at that time that I had no money to pay duty, he would have just asked me to go but he did not say so. 
He brought out money to pay the duty from his pocket. That was just an example. “Another example is that when he was posted to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, there was the case of 53 suitcases. Atiku insisted that those suitcases must be opened. They contained laundered money. Those in power then were not happy with him because it was during the military era. They called his boss, the then Minister of Finance, asking him to sack Atiku. The man refused to sack him but he was transferred to Kano. 
“You know he travelled and returned to the country recently. His aircraft was searched, thinking that he was going to bring money into the country. They sent security officials to ransack everywhere but they did not find anything. I even told people that if Atiku had brought money into Nigeria, it could not have been the nation’s money. He has many friends abroad who are aware that he is contesting election and they can decide to assist him financially. 
What is wrong with that? Atiku is a rich man. He did not steal Nigeria’s money. He has a conglomerate of businesses. They did that to him as a former Vice President and I think it was not right. He subjected himself to searching.” On her husband’s relationship with the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Titi expressed her excitement over his endorsing of her husband despite the friction they had in the past. She said that: “I was happy because Obasanjo is our father. I have expressed my desire to visit him and he told me I should not worry, that we are all working towards the same goal of making Nigeria great again. Baba Obasanjo loves my husband so much. 
You know that my husband won the Adamawa governorship election before Baba sent for him to come and be his Vice President. It was people around them that caused the friction (they had while in office). They don’t like seeing two people in agreement; they would start to carry tales in order to cause division between them. It was all those lieutenants that were with them when we were in the Villa that caused the friction between them.” She further revealed that her husband was responsible for the creation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practice Commission (ICPC) and that he is not corrupt. 
“I am not trying to run other candidates down, but among them all, my husband is the most qualified. He is an entrepreneur who has several businesses. He is second to none in terms of employing people in Nigeria. Atiku is conversant with the economy. When he was the Vice President, he was actively involved in the activities of the economic team. Even the EFCC and ICPC were Atiku’s creations; so also was the privatisation programme. People who say wrong things about Atiku are myopic or they say such out of jealousy.”
Photo Credit: Getty
