The All Progressive Congress (APC) has
alleged that former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has initiated moves to
secure a United States’ visa for Atiku Abubakar.
Mr Abubakar, a
former vice president and a presidential candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 presidential election, was endorsed
by Mr Obasanjo on Thursday.
The APC in a statement signed by its
acting National Publicity Secretary, Yekini Nabena, said the party got
the information from its intelligence unit.
Mr Nabena said the
former president was lobbying US authorities to withdraw the country’s
entry ban placed on Abubakar who is widely known as Atiku.
“We
have come across reports that former President Olusegun Obasanjo has
made moves to secure United States entry visa for the presidential
candidate of the PDP ,Alh. Atiku Abubakar, whose candidacy he endorsed
on Thursday,” the party said.
“It is learnt that that the former
President who during and after leaving office insisted on Atiku’s
unsuitability to govern Nigeria based on his knowledge of the latter’s
extensive corrupt practices while he served as Vice President, is
lobbying US authorities to withdraw the ban reportedly placed on Atiku
from entering the United States following a 2005 $500,000 bribery
scandal that involved Atiku, his fourth wife, Jennifer and former United
States Congressman, William Jefferson.
Recall that the former
president while in office had deployed enormous resources of the country
on a global dragnet coordinated by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) in getting Atiku prosecuted for corrupt enrichment and
money laundering.
A report by the United States Senate Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Senator Carl Levin reported
that Atiku used offshore companies to siphon millions of dollars to his
fourth wife in the United States, Jennifer while still the vice
president of Nigeria between 2000 and 2008.
The report
further stated that then President Bush had on the strength of his
report, barred Atiku and other corrupt politically exposed persons from
being issued visa to the United States, a reason for which he has been
unable to travel to the United States till date.
“Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo’s intervention in Alh.Abubakar Atiku’s ban
from the United States of America is evidence of Obasanjo’s legendary
hypocrisy and self-serving interest in national affairs,” the statement
read.
