According to Twitter user @AbiolaYaqub, Dr. Reuben Abati, host of the Arise News Morning Show and former special media advisor to former President Goodluck Jonathan, was…
The funds, according to the Twitter user, were transferred to Abati via the office of former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki.
Twitter user @AbiolaYaqub on Thursday tweeted an image of three people, including Abati and former Minister of State for Defense Musiliu Obanikoro, saying: “This is Reuben Abati of Arise TV in EFCC custody for raising 500 million naira from the Dasuki arms funds deal. Today, the same Abati works with Nduka Obaigbena, owner of Arise TV, created with money destined to fight the insurgency, but he complains about insecurity”.
The image has received approximately 1,500 likes, as well as over 1,000 quote tweets and retweets.
Claim 1: Photograph of Abati in the custody of the EFCC
The Daily Trust submitted the image posted by @AbiolaYaqub and discovered that it was cropped because the full image included five people, including former aviation minister Femi Fani-Kayode.
Although Google’s reverse image search was unable to determine whether the image was taken at an EFCC facility or not, the Daily Trust can confirm that all of the people in the full image at the time it was taken were members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Claim 2: Reuben Abati received N500 million from the NSA.
According to the Daily Trust’s investigation, the EFCC arrested Abati and Bala Mohammed, a former FCT minister who is now the Governor of Bauchi State, in October 2016.
The anti-corruption agency later revealed that Abati received N50 million from Sambo Dasuki, the embattled former national security adviser.
Furthermore, Abati allegedly told investigators that he spent the N50m on media relations as part of his job as Jonathan’s media adviser.
“He said that the details of the relations with the media are never documented,” the EFCC sources said.
Abati was never charged or convicted of anything. The EFCC released him on administrative bail a few days after his arrest.
Culled from Daily Trust
