Tinubu nominates Abacha’s moneybag Atiku Bagudu, Wale Edun to transition council

President-elect Bola Tinubu has nominated Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State as a member of the Presidential Transition Committee (PTC). 

Aside from Mr Bagudu, who in 2020 was in the eye of the storm over the controversial wealth he allegedly got through former military dictator Sani Abacha, Mr Tinubu also nominated Wale Edun into the committee. 

Mr Edun was one-time commissioner of finance under Mr Tinubu as governor of Lagos State. 

Before becoming Kebbi governor, Mr Bagudu was a “bagman” for Mr Abacha, and assisted in laundering a large chunk of the estimated $2.2 billion stolen by the late kleptomaniac Nigerian leader. 

Boss Mustapha, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the PTC disclosed the names of Mr Tinubu’s men on Tuesday in Abuja. 

Mr Mustapha said the 24-member committee is saddled with the responsibility of organising the swearing-in and the inaugural parade; working out the details programmes and other logistics necessary for the successful inauguration ceremony. 

“After the declaration of, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President-Elect, the PTC requested him to nominate his representatives on the council as provided in the Executive Order. The President-elect nominated Atiku Bagudu, the Governor of Kebbi State, and Chief Olawale Edun,” he said. 

Recall how Pandora Papers – one of the biggest leaks of the financial documents in the world – uncovered how Mr Bagudu helped the late Abacha’s family steal billions of dollars from Nigeria in the 1990s. 

Also, the U.S. government in 2020 repatriated N112.05 billion ($308 million) stolen and laundered by Mr Bagudu on behalf of Mr Abacha, who died in 1998.