In this article, The Witness Nigeria scrutinizes the biography, family, career and life story of Nigeria’s Minister of Budget and Economic Planning.
Full Name: Abubakar Atiku Bagudu
Date of Birth: 26 December 1961
State of origin: Kebbi State
Religion: Islam.
Atiku Bagudu CON is a Nigerian politician who is the current Nigerian minister of budget and national planning. Atiku Bagudu’s father was the director of Primary education in Kebbi State.
He served as governor of Kebbi State from 2015 to 2023. He also served as the senator representing the Kebbi Central senatorial district from 2009 to 2015. He is a named accomplice in multiple investigations involving corruption that occurred during the regime of former Nigerian military ruler General Sani Abacha.
Atiku Bagudu’s Educational Career
He obtained a BSc (Economics) degree from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Msc (Economics) from the University of Jos and M.A. (International Affairs). He is married to Zainab Bagudu.
Atiku Bagudu’s Professional Career
In 2009, Bagudu succeeded Adamu Aliero when he won the by-election for the Kebbi Central Senatorial seat following Aliero’s appointment by President Goodluck Jonathan to become the Minister for FCT in December 2008. 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.
During the 2015 general elections, Atiku Bagudu moved from the ruling PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and contested in the governorship election, winning a landslide victory in the polls.
In the 9 March 2019 Kebbi State gubernatorial election, Bagudu polled 673,717 votes, while his rival Sen. Isah Galaudu of PDP polled 106,633 votes. Bagudu contested and won the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 Kebbi Central Senatorial election. He lost the election to PDP incumbent Adamu Aliero who had previously moved from the APC, after losing the primaries.
He was appointed minister of budget and economic planning by president Bola Tinubu on 16 August 2023. Bagudu was a known associate of former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha, who meanwhile was accused of stealing more than $2.2 billion of public funds during his five-year tenure as Nigerian president in the 1990s.
In 2003, Bagudu was arrested and extradited from Houston, Texas at the request of Jersey, where Bagudu had set up a shell company called Doraville Properties to launder funds stolen from Nigeria. Bagudu eventually reached a settlement, agreeing to return $160 million of stolen money in exchange for deportation to Nigeria to face trial.
Despite the considerable evidence from legal authorities in the U.S., Jersey, and Switzerland, Bagudu was never questioned after returning to Nigeria. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the repatriation of $480 million stolen by Sani Abacha and his co-conspirators.
In its complaint, the U.S. government alleged that Sani Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others “embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions of dollars from the government of Nigeria and others, then laundered their criminal proceeds through U.S. financial institutions and the purchase of bonds backed by the United States.”
In February 2020, the U.S. government entered into a trilateral agreement with Nigeria and Jersey to repatriate over $300 million in additional money that Bagudu played a role in stealing during the Abacha regime. The U.S. announced that it was continuing to seek forfeiture of over $177 million in additional laundered funds held in trusts that name Bagudu and his relatives as beneficiaries. Bagudu is immune from prosecution while governor. Bagudu was one of the Nigerians unveiled by the 2021 Pandora Papers as hiding dirty money in offshore shell companies.
Details of his earnings are yet to be provided.
