Atiku Distances Self from Online Portal Giving out N10, 000 in His Name

Chuks Okocha

Former Nigerian Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has distanced himself from what he described as a fake online portal, the ‘Atiku Foundation Youth Empowerment Fund’.

A statement issued by his media aide, Paul Ibe, said the portal was set up by some unscrupulous element with identity of the presidential candidate of the PDP in the last general election forged.

Ibe said: “The portal was supposedly set up without his consent with the intention to defraud.

“The objective of the criminals behind this scam is to defraud unsuspecting members of the public by advertising the identity of Atiku Abubakar as being associated with the fraud.

“We warn supporters of Atiku and the public not to patronise any portal called ‘Atiku Foundation for Youth Empowerment’. The portal is fake and certainly does not enjoy the authorisation of Atiku. Indeed this scam was first introduced in 2019 by criminal elements.

“We also warn the public and supporters of the Waziri of Adamawa not to patronise any scheme in his name, which is not expressly advertised on the verified social media accounts of the former vice-president.

“We call on the law enforcement agencies to track and arrest the individuals behind this online crime and identity forgery, and bring them to face the law.”

THISDAY learnt that the online portal with Atiku’s picture in suit claims to be empowering those who submit their names with N10,000 each. As at 12.37 p.m. yesterday, the portal claims to have empowered more than 150,000.