Abubakar Atiku Bagudu

Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (born 26 December 1961) is a Nigerian politician who was elected Senator for the Kebbi Central constituency of Kebbi State, Nigeria in a by-election after Senator Adamu Aliero was appointed Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in December 2008. He ran successfully for reelection in the April 2011 national elections in the People's Democratic Party (PDP) platform. He became the political party All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial candidate in Nigeria's 2015 general elections.

Early life and education

Although Bagudu came from a wealthy family, his father was actually the director of Primary Education in Kebbi He obtained a BSc (Economics), Msc (Economics) and M.A. (International Affairs).^[1]

Political career

Bagudu was a known associate of former Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha, who together with Abubakar Atiku Bagudu allegedly systematically looted billions of dollars from the Central Bank of Nigeria and laundered the money overseas (Switzerland) using the U.S. financial institutions, among others. In 2014, in the US District Court, Washington DC, in the Case No.13-cv-1832-JDB (USA v. All Assets Held in Account Number 80020796), the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) found their (Abacha, Bagudu, at al) companies guilty of money laundering and described the indictment as "the largest kleptocracy case in its history." A US District Court in the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, in the case USA v. Abubakar Atiku Bagudu (Case No. H-03-434M) following a request titled ABUBAKAR ATIKU BAGUDU - EXTRADITION FROM THE U.S., PROVISIONAL ARREST, dated 11 April 2003 by the Home Office Judicial Cooperation Unit, London, UK, Bagudu was released on bail (pending extradition) to his wife, Aisha Bagudu on 19 November 2003, after about six months detention (22 May - 19 Nov, 2003) in a Federal Facility in Houston, Texas, USA.

Bagudu succeeded Adamu Aliero when he won the by-election for the Kebbi Central Senatorial seat following Aliero's appointment to become the Minister for FCT.^[2] In the 6 April 2011 elections, Bagudu won for the PDP with 173,595 votes. His predecessor Adamu Aliero, who had moved to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), came second with 137,299 votes and Aliyu Bello Mohammed of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) trailed with 11,953 votes.^[3]

References