Halliburton Scandal: US denies Having Information on Allegations Against Aisha Buhari

United States government has denied having any information about any crimes allegedly committed by the wife of the president, Mrs Aisha Buhari.

Testerday, the acting public affairs officer of the US Consulate General, Lagos, Mr Frank Sellin, in response to an enquiry by Punch newspaper on the issue, said, “Thank you for the inquiry. We have no information to provide on this matter.”

There had been speculations fueled by Ekiti state governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, that the president’s wife was wanted in the US and was avoiding travelling to the country.

Fayose, had in June alleged that Mrs Buhari was involved in the $185m Halliburton scandal. The governor was reacting to the freezing of his personal bank accounts by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over links to funds diverted from the office of the national security adviser in 2014.

Fayose accused the EFCC of being a tool of oppression deployed to silence the president’s critics while alleging that President Muhammadu Buhari was himself corrupt. He had said:

“Even the President cannot claim to be an angel. The estate he built in Abuja is known to us. His wife was indicted in the Halliburton scandal. When that American, Jefferson, was being sentenced, the President’s wife was mentioned as having wired $170,000 to Jefferson. Her name was on page 25 of the sentencing of Jefferson. We can serialise the judgment for people to see and read.”

Fayose repeated the claim in a statement by his chief press secretary, Idowu Adelusi. He said Aisha refused to travel with the President to the US because of her involvement in the scandal.