FACT CHECK: Did US indict Atiku as brain behind killings in Nigeria?
May 11
In May 2019, a few months after the presidential election, a news item began to circulate on social media media platforms claiming that the United States had indicted Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the brain behind killings in the country.
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Atiku, a former vice-president, had lost the election to President Muhammadu Buhari, who secured a second tenure in office.
The report, published majorly on blogs and widely shared on social media, claimed a US agency, Centre for Diplomacy and Democracy, based in Washington DC, made a “shocking revelation” that Atiku had threatened to destabilise the country ahead of Buhari’s inauguration.