Fresh revelations unearthed by The New Diplomat in Abuja show that Mr Kingsley Kuku, Special Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger-Delta Affairs and Chairman of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), may have fled the shores of the United States of America (USA) as the dragnet of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) closes in on him.
The New Diplomat gathered from authoritative diplomatic and security sources that Kuku is currently holed up in an unnamed island in South America.
Kuku vanished from the political stage soon after May 29, 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in as President of Nigeria.
Soon afterwards, pictures showing him on wheel chair in a US hospital were splashed in Nigerian newspapers. He was alleged to have undergone surgery over a knee injury.
After failing to honour several EFCC invitations, Kuku was declared wanted by the anti-graft agency through its spokesman, Mr Wilson Uwujaren, for allegedly divesting public funds for personal use and embezzlement of public funds from the coffers of the Presidential Amnesty programme.
However, after several months of stay in the US, Kuku was rumoured to be nursing the ambition of running for the governorship elections in Ondo State for which he allegedly floated a campaign office in the state.
But investigations by The New Diplomat show the rumour to be baseless or at best, a diversionary ploy.
According to an insider who squealed to The New Diplomat, “He is currently in an island in South America but the name of the island is being kept secret.”
It was revealed that Kuku has managed to secure papers of that country with a fake identity and intends to stay there till the end of the Buhari Administration.
“When Buhari leaves office, he will return to Nigeria. That I can assure you,’’ the source said.
The source added: “Mr Kuku lived big when Jonathan was in power. He built a massive estate in his country home that was almost the size of a whole community.
He paid off many villagers and relocated most of them because he didn’t want poor people to be his neighbours,’’ the source said.
A top EFCC source however told The New Diplomat that the anti-graft agency is intensifying its dragnet and hoped to nab him soon.
“We are going to get hold of him soon. We are seriously investigating the latest intelligence and we welcome any information on him,’’ Uwujaren said.
