US Denies Secretary of State, Pompeo, Called Atiku Corrupt

Ololade Adeyanju/

The United States Embassy in Nigeria has alerted the public to fake reports that the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, referred to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, as corrupt.

The reports had also quoted Pompeo as saying that he deliberately refused to meet with Atiku when he visited America last month.

A viral story attributed to Pompeo had read, “Breaking News: I personally refused to meet him (Atiku) or have anything to do with him. I am really surprised that an individual indicted in the United States of America of huge corruption is being considered for Nigerian President and citizens are even supporting him –US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.”

But the US Embassy in a statement yesterday urged Nigerians to disregard the report.

The statement reads: “FAKENEWS Alert! The U.S. Mission to Nigeria has become aware of material making the rounds online purporting to be from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. We want to state unequivocally that the post is fake.

“If you have seen such manufactured item on Facebook, or received it via WhatsApp, please communicate that it is false.”