By Pascal Oparada, Social Media/Tech Reporter
What started as mere rumour earlier in the day, which some people dismissed as classical case of fake news has turned out the biggest story of the season.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 16 presidential election finally visited the United States of America after 12 years.
The story came out of the blues and took everyone by surprise, even some of his aides did not know about the impending trip.
Hence, the uncertainty that dogged the story when it broke late afternoon.
When some media outlets first reported the story, Atiku’s media aide, Mr. Paul Ibe, dismissed it as a figment of the imagination of those peddling it.
But it turned out to be true. Atiku jetted out of Nigeria on Thursday to be hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Africa Business Centre at 1615 H street, NW 20062.
Atiku’s inability to travel to the U.S. in the last 12 years has been a major plank of the campaign by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) against him.
They allege that he has been barred from the U.S. because of corruption.
For the over 12 years that Mr Abubakar was unable to visit the U.S. American authorities had declined to issue him entry visa and there were speculation that a secret indictment had been entered against him by that country’s authorities.
His travelling to the U.S. is a major coup-de-grace. By so doing, he has crossed one of the most serious political hurdles on his path ahead of the upcoming general elections.
Confirming the trip to TheNiche on telephone, Mr. Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP’s national publicity secretary said, “It is true that our candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is in the U.S. He travelled early this morning with some members of his presidential campaign council.”
Reminded that the APC chieftains had always insisted that he cannot travel to the U.S., a highly elated Ologbondiyan retorted, “Let us see what they will say again. When I was telling people that this so-called U.S. visa ban was a non-issue, they didn’t understand what I was saying.”
The PDP spokesperson said the candidate got the visa since last year. Asked why it was made a top secret, he said it was a non-issue. “When Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua became president of Nigeria, he had not been to U.S. before. In fact, the only country he had travelled to was Saudi Arabia and he didn’t even have the telephone numbers of some of his colleagues (governors). Yet, he was elected president.”
Abubakar who arrived at the Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. would be speaking at a forum by the American Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C. and attend other meetings aimed at boosting his presidential election standing.
His arrival in the U.S. will rattle the APC that has taunted him to no end for his inability to enter the U.S. for over a decade.
He has not visited the U.S. since 2007 when he left as Nigeria’s vice-president. He served under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Mr Abubakar’s visa appears to have come through the intervention of Mr Obasanjo, with whom he recently settled decade-old dispute ahead of the 2019 elections.View image on Twitter
Just arrived Washington D.C for meeting with US government officials, Nigerians living in D.C metropolis and the business community. -AA3,26311:26 – 17 Jan 20193,205 people are talking about thisTwitter Ads information and privacy
TheNiche reliably gathered that the U.S. authorities issued Abubakar visa without preconditions, meaning that he would not be detained or harrassed in any way if he entered the country.
The PDP presidential candidate is expected to take part in the January 19 Presidential Debate organised by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria in Abuja.
Asked how possible that will be, Mr. Ologbondiyan said, “Our candidate will be at the debate. He will participate. He is ready because he knows what the issues are and he has a roadmap that will take Nigeria out of the woods. So, there is nothing to fear about. He will take part in the debate.”
TheNiche reliably gathered that the trip was strategically planned to fall on the eve of the debate to take the sail off the winds of the opposition that may wish to make his inability to travel to the U.S. the big issue of the night.