Obasanjo lobbying US authorities to withdraw Atiku’s US entry ban – APC

The All Progressives Congress says it has reports that former President Olusegun Obasanjo is making moves to secure United States entry visa for Atiku Abubakar, the 2019 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Yekini Nabena, the APC Acting National Publicity Secretary, made the allegation in a statement on Friday in Abuja.
“We have come across credible reports that former President Olusegun Obasanjo has made moves to secure United States entry visa for the presidential candidate of the PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,” Nabena said.
The APC spokesman added that the former president was also lobbying the US authorities to withdraw the ban reportedly placed on Abubakar from entering the US.
He recalled that the entry ban was placed on Abubakar following a $500,000 bribery scandal in 2005 that involved the PDP candidate; his fourth wife, Jennifer; and former United States Congressman, William Jefferson.
Obasanjo had on Thursday endorsed Abubakar, who was the Vice President when he was in office, to replace Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress as president in the 2019 election.
Nabena, however, stressed that Obasanjo’s intervention in Abubakar’s ban from the United States of America was evidence of “his legendary hypocrisy and self-serving interest in national affairs”.
He noted that Obasanjo during and after leaving office had always insisted on Abubakar’s unsuitability to govern Nigeria based on his knowledge of his extensive corrupt practices while he served as Vice President.
He said: “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 U.S 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.”
This, Nabena said, happened while Abubakar was still the Vice President of Nigeria between 2000 and 2008.
He added that it was on the strength of the report that President George Bush barred Abubakar and other corrupt politically exposed persons from being issued visa to the United States.
This, the APC spokesman said, was the reason Abubakar had not been able to travel to the United States till date.