Atiku's wife said Buhari punished her husband in 1984 for trying to inspect 53 suitcases at Lagos airport

FORMER vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar's wife Titi has revealed that her husband was persecuted for insisting on inspecting the controversial 53 suitcases imported into the country by a traditional ruler when President Muhammadu Buhari was military head of state.

In 1984 when President Buhari was Nigeria's military head of state, Alhaji Abubakar was the head of Customs at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos. At the time, the 53 suitcases were ferried through the airport without customs checks by soldiers allegedly at the behest of Major Mustapha Jokolo, then President Buhari's aide-de-camp, who said they were diplomatic baggage.

Major Jokolo's father, the In 1984, the then emir of Gwandu was said to have been returning to the country from overseas and on learning of his arrival, President Buhari asked his son to go and receive him at the airport. Coincidentally, the Nigerian ambassador to Libya at the time, Dr Tahir Waziri, arrived at with his three wives and 16 children, all coming with their belongings as he was coming home to take up a new appointment as chief of protocol to the head of state.

According to President Buhari, it was the suitcases of the family of 20 that were counted as belonging to the emir and falsely presented to the public. However, Alhaji Abubakar insisted in checking the suitcases according to his wife and for having the effrontery to do so, was transferred from the airport immediately.

Speaking while being received by Chief Edwin Clark and other leaders of the South-South, Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Middle Belt Forum in his Abuja yesterday, Mrs Abubakar she said her husband's insistence drew the ire of government which then pressured him out of his post. She added that he was subsequently transferred to Kano as a punishment for being so brazen,

Mrs Abubakar said: “When Atiku was in Customs, there was one incident that happened in the 80s. There were some 53 suitcases that were brought in then by this present administration, they were in charge then, and he insisted that those suitcases must be opened but they were very angry with him and they called the then minister of finance, Onaolapo Soleye and they said they should throw him out of the job.

“However, the minister said to them, this is one of the finest officers he had, that he would never throw Atiku out. They said, it’s ok, if you don’t want to throw the man out, transfer him immediately, so Atiku, that day was transferred to Kano.”

Expressing faith that her husband would win next year's elections, Mrs Abubakar revealed that there was fear among party faithful when the venue of the recent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention was moved from Abuja to Port Harcourt. She said many people believed that it was a ploy to edge out Atiku and there would be a fight but God had ordained that he would be the party’s flag bearer.

Mrs Abubakar assured that as a successful private businessman, Atiku would bring his business sagacity to bear on creating a prosperous life for Nigerians. She denied that the main opposition candidate is corrupt, saying that as someone who she has been married to him for nearly 40 years, she knows him better and could say he is a just man.