Nigerian Entangled In Jefferson Investigation

Rep. William J. Jefferson's visit to the Maryland mansion of Nigeria's vice president, Atiku Abubakar, in August 2005 was part of an FBI sting. (By Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post)

Onukaba said yesterday that the FBI has asked the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to help in the Jefferson investigation by interviewing three governors of Nigerian states and other officials who had contact with the Louisiana Democrat.

Onukaba said he and others were urging the Nigerian agency to release any FBI report on the case. They say such a report would show that the vice president did nothing wrong. Several attempts to reach the commission for comment by phone and e-mail were unsuccessful.

Abubakar began his career as a Nigerian customs agent in 1969 and ascended to deputy director. A number of former U.S. diplomats and scholars said the Nigerian customs service was notorious at the time for taking bribes, but Abubakar has denied persistent rumors that he took illegal payoffs. As a young civil servant, he invested in stocks and real estate, according to his biography. After retiring from the customs service in 1989, he became active in politics while investing in oil-related services, insurance, pharmaceuticals and agriculture.

"He had a nose for business," Onukaba said.

In 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo was elected president of Nigeria, and Abubakar was elected vice president, ushering in what was touted as a new era of democracy after the brutal military dictatorship of Sani Abacha. Abubakar had spent several years in exile living in suburban Maryland during the Abacha regime.

Abubakar, a multimillionaire, owns several large businesses, a $3 million home in Nigeria's capital and a $5 million home in northern Nigeria, as well as his seven-bedroom, embassy-style gated mansion and gardens in Potomac. Moreover, he put up more than $25 million to start ABTI-American University of Nigeria in his home town of Yola through American University, according to the university in Yola.

In Washington, Abubakar became a fixture in diplomatic circles, speaking out on democracy in Africa and attending functions including a dinner for about 15 people last year at Restaurant Nora on Florida Avenue NW, hosted by Princeton N. Lyman, the former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria.

"He has a distinguished record as opposing military dictatorships," Lyman said. "He's very supportive of education. He's quite an impressive person. There's many things one can admire about him."

Abubakar's wife Jennifer Atiku-Abubakar, a former Nigerian television reporter who also goes by the name Jamila, is a doctoral student at American University and operates the Gede Foundation, a Washington-based charity for people in Africa who have HIV. Although a registered Democrat, she has made political donations including $25,000 to the Republican National Committee, according to campaign records.

The year Abubakar took office as vice president, Jefferson visited Nigeria as part of a congressional fact-finding trip, according to travel records. Jefferson returned three more times -- including a trip in 2004 sponsored by iGate Inc. of Louisville, a high-tech company looking to break into Nigeria's cable television and Internet markets. The owner of iGate, Vernon L. Jackson, later pleaded guilty to paying bribes to Jefferson in connection with the Nigerian contract.

Abubakar said in his statement on Wednesday that he met with Jefferson at least four times, twice in Nigeria and twice in the United States, "in connection with Congressman Jefferson's attempt to introduce potential investors in Nigeria to Nigerian officials."

Their last meeting, on July 18, 2005, became the subject of a key FBI affidavit in the Jefferson corruption case.