Why the list of rich Nigerian politicians is imaginary

Why the list of rich Nigerian politicians is imaginary

- The list of the richest Nigerians allegedly released by the FBI circulated in some media

- Nigerians immediately react to the news, saying with PDP names missing it might be fake

- Legit.ng listed five reasons why the report cannot be true

The list of the richest Nigerian politicians allegedly published of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, makes the rounds in the media.

The report first appeared on May 5, 2016 on Nigeria Infopedia.

It says that FBI revealed the details of the top richest politicians’ American bank accounts.

READ ALSO: 5 Nigerians on Forbes 2016 list of world billionaires

The names listed in the reports include: ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, former Lagos state Governor, Bola Tinubu, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, former military head of state Ibrahim Babangida, former INEC chairman Attahiru Jega, Maina, Oransanye, Lamido, Talba, Alamyeisegha and Adamu Muazu.

Why the list of rich Nigerian politicians is imaginary
A weird fragment of 'FBI's report' went viral.

However, NAIJ.com investigations show that this picture and subsequent publications which appeared based on it are fake.

Below are five reasons why this report cannot be true:

1. If it is real, then where are the logos, dates of release and reference numbers?

2. Ally financial /Detroit. is written in different font (compare with the rest of the 'document', other lines).

3. A dot after some names of banks and politicians. In several lines the 'dot' is missing. It makes no sense.  A really inconsistent 'document'. Maybe the FBI now recruits the guys who dropped out of school?!

4. Huge number of errors: Citi group / new York - two errors, the official name is Citigroup Inc.; New York - two letters should be capital.

Do you believe the FBI posts document with such huge number of typos?! The photo can be created by every person who has a computer and MS Excel, or similar software.

5. A publication refers to Amanpour Live show on CNN. The problem is, the video version of this show is nowhere to be found online. The conclusion is obvious, such a video simply does not exist.

According to the official site of the bureau, the mission of the FBI is to protect the American people and uphold the United States Constitution. It has nothing to do with tracing and investigating Nigerians (or other nationals) who do not pose a threat to USA's national interests. The FBI simply doesn't provide such investigations, there are other American agencies.

The USA earlier said that it would help President Muhammadu Buhari to trace and recover billions of stolen money.

Check out some reactions from the Nairaland:

"It seems APC politicians are the richest. This report could be one sided."

"So no single PDP "Polithiefcian" on the list of richest ?

"All of GEJ's cronies from the previous administration as well as others from the previous 15 years of PDP leadership are all conspicuously missing, did they stop being politicians the day PDP lost power?

"Continue lying o..... meanwhile only fools will believe the list. Where Diezani, Dasuki, Metuh, Akpabio, Oduah dey."

"I laugh with this list, not that it is fake but for the fact that many PDP names were omitted. No government can be as corrupt as GEJ government in Nigeria. If GEJ, Mama Peace, Diezani, Okonjo, Dasuki, Etals could not make the list with how they intentionally milked this country then the list is pure fake. Femi Orebe is right, may we never experience PDP again in Nigeria."

"This post reminds one of the dangers and disadvantages of internet, especially Facebook: Any fool can post any trash and that would be expected to be believed and shared by natural fools like them without questions or check."

"Having these few names makes the genuinty of this story questionable……as I believe the cook up is the handi work of some people trying to tell us the half story….Nigerians are much more interested in the full story…..the list is longer than this."

"So because the blog mentioned FBI, we are automatically supposed to believe the story. Many of these politicians in the list were already wealthy before becoming governors… Naijacracy is not for the poor… Anyway if this is true, they will face the music if PDP should ever come back to power."

READ ALSO: Speak out against corruption, Tinubu tells Nigerians

President Buhari vowed that he will fight against all corrupt practices and abuse of public offices.

In the beginning of June the president partially fulfilled his promise to publish specific details of funds traced to and recovered from corrupt former government officials as part of his war against endemic corruption.

On the list, the incumbent government said it had recovered a total of N115.7 billion cash, while assets worth over N1.9 trillion had been frozen in one year.

Source: Legit.ng

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