Agents of the elite American security agency, the Federal Investigation Bureau, FBI, will escort Vice-President Atiku Abubakar to Nigeria when he returns to the country on Friday.
A team of attorneys is also on stand-by in the event the government decides to move against the number two man.
This follows fears that Abubakar may either be arrested or harmed by alleged “government death squads.
” The vice president had, in a briefing to the influential Council of Foreign Relations, raised alarm over his safety, claiming that Abuja was after him because of his opposition to President Olusegun Obasanjo and the government could take steps to harm him.
The briefing caused panic in Abuja which sent Minister of State for Transport (Aviation), Femi Fani Kayode, to present the government’s side of the story and to reassure the international community that the nation is not reverting to dictatorship.
Although officials of the State Department said they had received assurances from Abuja that “Abubakar will not be harmed or arrested,” the decision to dispatch the FBI is to ensure the government keeps its words.
Daily Sun learnt that supporters of Abubakar have swamped him with reports of some unidentified men visiting both his official residence and his country home in Adamawa for undisclosed reasons. Abuja has said it is unaware of the mission of the men, fueling speculations they may be keeping tabs on the VP�s whereabouts.
Sources said because of the security scare based on “credible sources” from Nigeria, Abubakar then postponed his return home while adequate security measure are put in place to ensure his safety. The decision to engage the FBI, close aides of Abubakar said, was taken after a marathon meeting between top officials of the Action Congress who visited Washington after Abubakar initially refused to give his consent to the plan, but had a change of mind after he was reminded of several unresolved deaths of important personalities.
“His Excellency no longer has confidence in the security apparatus provided by the government, so, he has to take care of his own safety,” sources close to the meetings disclosed.
The security scare is also responsible for the vice-president’s request for an official presidential jet to bring him into the country. “His safety would be guaranteed if he flies in with a presidential jet as the government cannot move against him in the full glare of the public and the international community,” sources said.
An official of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, however, faults Abubakar’s high profile meeting and interviews in the U.S as having done “incalculable damage to the country’s image.”
“It has been difficult for the government to counter his claims because he is a sitting vice president whose comments are taken seriously by both the U.S government and the international community and that is unbecoming of the nation’s number two man,” the official said.