The ambition of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to contest the 2011 presidential election appears to be getting some negative mention in the international security circles, following indications the United States security services have placed him under close watch.

Information at the disposal of the Saturday Tribune indicated that the United States security outfits in conjunction with operatives in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Mi5 of the United Kingdom are working on certain information relating to Atiku.

Sources claimed that Atiku’s activities came into focus following indications that he was putting his Potomac house on sale and relocating his interests to the UAE.

Diplomatic sources stated that Atiku is under watch after he relocated his wife, Jemilar, from the United States to the UAE.

“The reports are to the effect that Atiku is under watch for a number of issues. There are fresh insights into the Thomas Jefferson case. There are also indications that he plans to sell his house in Potomac, Maryland and relocate the proceeds to the UAE. The house is worth millions of dollars. The movement of funds around him is being watched,” a source close to the development said during the week.

Other sources said that the US is also watching Atiku over reports linking him to alleged acquisition of OPL 245 through an Italian and other associates.

“The Mi5 has worked closely with the UAE authorities in recent years. They are worried about movement of funds into the UAE. They are aware that a number of top Nigerians are fast turning the UAE into abodes and they are settled on the need to track funds no matter the intent,” another source said.

But the spokesman of Atiku Campaign organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, said in an interview that the former vice president believed that he was being closely monitored by the Nigerian authorities rather than American security operatives.

He said: “Atiku is not an American. He does not own investments in the US. What we gathered was that the Nigerian government plans to uproot all the Obasanjo cases against Atiku and use them to scandalise him.”

Shehu said that the House in Potomac was not on sale and that whoever planned to buy it should beware.

“What is happening is that the Jonathan government has been gathering dirty things about its opponents. We are aware that the legal adviser to the government has asked for cooperation and support from the US government so that they can reopen all those Obasanjo cases against him. And the American government told him that in all those cases, they did not find anything against Atiku and that the US government does not think it is politically wise for them to dabble into local Nigerian politics,” Atiku’s spokesman said.

source;http://tribune.com.ng/sat/index.php/front-page-articles/2486-2011-us-uk-security-turn-searchlight-on-atiku.html

Very interesting! Foreign agencies are about to singe Atiku's bright arse!
For those who might not know, OPL 245 is an oil block aqcuired by Shell for $210milla in 2004. here's some background to that oil block:

. . .
The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the activities of the NNPC and its subsidiaries had earlier uncovered that the whereabouts of the sum of $210 million (abut N31.5 billion) paid by Shell Petroleum to the Federal Government as signature bonus for the allocation of an oil block (OPL 245) was yet to be traced.

Though the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) prayed the committee to give it time to ascertain the payment or otherwise of the money, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), which exposed the dealings, noted that the said money had been paid to government through the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) since December 2003.

As if this were not enough, the Federal Government was said to have been defrauded of N84 billion in import duty between 1999 and 2007 through the activities of the NNPC.

The corporation, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), Total Upstream and 25 other firms are linked to the alleged fraud.

The House of Representatives Committee on Customs directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe the fraud.

NNPC is said to account for about N45.9 billion, of the total amount, which it allegedly failed to pay into the coffers of the Nigeria Customs Service as tax on petroleum products imported into the country between 1999 and 2002.
. . .

http://allafrica.com/stories/201005211138.html

Atiku omo oleeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Who are the "sources" this report is talking about? Surely, if the he is under investigation it will only be known to high level officials and as a matter of confidentiality, it will not be reported in the press. May be I am missing something.

Perhaps it is just another one of those report done so as to systematically remind Atiku that he's got a few things he needs to account for.

Meh