The presidency has described former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar’s claims in an interview published Saturday that “for about 15 years, Buhari could not enter America on account of religious considerations,” as mere fictive concoction being passed off as truth.
Atiku Abubakar was quoted as saying in the interview with Dele Momodu which was published in The Boss Newspaper Saturday that “For about 15 years, Buhari could not enter America on account of religious considerations.”
Momodu had asked Abubakar why he had not been able to visit the United States for many years, amid speculations that he is wanted in that country for a slew of sharp practices.
Rather than address the issue of his avoidance of the U.S territory, Abubakar, who is expected to run for president in 2019, said the U.S. authorities have nothing against him, adding that he was able to visit Europe regularly without being arrested for onward extradition to the U.S.
A statement by Femi Adesina, Senior Special Adviser, media and publicity to the president that this fictive concoction being passed off as truth is mind boggling, coming from a former Number Two man of Nigeria, who should know the truth.
“At no time was President Buhari, as a private person, ever forbidden from entering any country in the world. Rather, the rest of the world has always held Muhammadu Buhari as a man of sterling qualities, strong on integrity, transparency and accountability. The same testimony is still borne of the Nigerian President by many world leaders today.
“It is curious that former VP Abubakar had been asked why he had not visited America for over a decade, something that had been a stubborn fact dogging his footsteps. Instead of answering directly, he begged the question, saying Buhari also had been disallowed from entering the same country for 15 years, before becoming President.
“We hereby make it resoundingly clear that what the former Vice President said only exists in the realm of his imagination. If he has issues to settle with American authorities, he should do so, rather than clutch at a straw.
Abubakar was named in at least one fraudulent deal in the United States, which involved contract award in Nigeria and in which an American congressman Williams Jefferson was jailed in 2009 after being convicted by the FBI in relation to that case.
A $100,000 cash which federal agents found in Jefferson’s apartment during a raid was said to have been from Abubakar.
Jefferson acted as a middleman in the deal, which saw him use his political connection to top Nigerian officials to get the broadband contract for iGate, a company linked to his immediate family members.