Atiku warns against impersonators using his name, empowerment scheme to defraud Nigerians

A former Nigerian vice president, Atiku Abubakar has cautioned against fraudsters and impersonators using an online portal promoting, the Atiku Foundation Youth Empowerment Fund to defraud unsuspecting victims.

This disclaimer was issued on Monday by Atiku’s spokesman Paul Ibe, who said the portal is fake and certainly does not enjoy the authorization of Atiku.

The portal with 55 followers on Facebook and 51 likes in its about stated “putting a smile on every citizen of Nigeria during this period of COVID-19.”

The portal said the former vice president has approved N10,000 to empower every citizen during the pandemic.

“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,” Ibe said on Twitter on Monday.

“We warn supporters of Atiku Abubakar and the general public not to patronize any portal called Atiku Foundation for Youth Empowerment”.

He said the scam was first introduced in 2019 by criminal elements and warned supporters from falling victim to the scam.

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