Festus Keyamo, Director of
Strategic Communications of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential
Campaign Council, has described Atiku Abubakar‘s US visit as a catastrophe.
The former vice president
and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate had visited the US
on Thursday, January 17, accompanied by the Senate President Bukola Saraki.
Keyamo, in a statement
released through The Will Nigeria, said the trip exposes Atiku as “one with a
questionable character.”
Read the full statement:
In our press release issued
on Sunday, December 30, 2018, titled “WHEN THE THIEF IS SHOUTING THIEF”: THE
CASE OF ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR”, we correctly predicted as follows: “By running
for President of Nigeria, Atiku intends to get some immunity from prosecution.
Already he is hoping to obtain a visa to visit the US, as a guest of the State
department, a concession that the US will grant to a Presidential candidate of
Africa’s biggest Nation”.
Therefore, we were not
surprised by his visit to the U.S. For us, this visit is really a non-event considering
the issues involved in the forthcoming election. However, we have bad news for
those who think this is a momentous event for Atiku Abubakar: the visit was
nothing but a downright catastrophe because rather than dispel the fact of
indictments hanging over his head, it further confirms and reinforces those
facts for the following reasons:
(1) The visit had all the
trappings of a fugitive sneaking into America under a “special diplomatic
waiver”. For the candidate of the major opposition party in Nigeria, it is an
absolute disaster that the visit was not announced ahead of time in Nigeria,
with his programmes and itinerary clearly spelt out, the decent and customary
minimum standard of such visits. This culminated in his close aides issuing
conflicting statements about the visit when he was already on his way there. In
fact, one of them called Paul Ibe actually spoke to the Press that his
principal was nowhere near America! Such was the secrecy of the planning and
execution of that visit.
(2) It is shameful that a
presidential candidate of a major opposition party in Africa’s most populous
country would visit America, and the international press was kept in the dark:
There was NO SINGLE press conference with the array of international media and
correspondents required for such ‘high-profile’ visit. Atiku knows he has no
moral stamina to withstand the avalanche of hard questions bordering on his
sordid past in America. In fact, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar claims he visited the
Voice of America (VOA) but only did two carefully-packaged interviews with the
Hausa service and the English to Africa program – platforms that have always
been available to him back home. How strange! In fact, both the Twitter handle
(@VOANews) and official website of VOA did not mention any such visit of Alhaji
Atiku Abubakar to their station. For news hounds, you would agree with us that
such an ‘important personality’ cannot walk into a news premises without
reporters swooping on him. Whatever he went to do in the premises of the VOA
must have been a carefully-arranged private visit for the photo-ops, which was
intended to scam Nigerians. What more evidence do we need of a
“sneak-in-sneak-out” arrangement than this?.
(3) For a candidate who
claims he wants to “get Nigeria working again” (a meaningless phrase) to sneak
into America without meeting major players in private businesses is a curiosity
and an indication that we are dealing with a candidate with a dodgy and
questionable character. He claims he went to the U.S Chamber of Commerce, which
is supposed to be a business federation. Again, the Twitter handle (@USChamber)
and the website of the organization make no mention of the visit of such an
‘important personality’ to them. Maybe their famous American lobbyist on a
salary of N9million per month can help them ‘do something’ about this after
this press statement.
(4) It is also an anomaly
that the candidate of the major opposition party in Nigeria sneaked into
America and did not meet large sections of political leaders of similar
ideologies and persuasions towards which he claims to be inclined. For all his
claim to be going to America to meet “U.S Government officials”, he only
succeeded in meeting a certain “Congressman Smith”, who is the equivalent of a
member of the House of Representatives in Nigeria. You would agree with us that
as dignified and respected as the office of a Member of the House of
Representatives is, an important personality cannot come to Nigeria on an
official visit and claim he has met the “Nigerian government officials” after
he pays a private visit to that Member. For all we know, the Congressman Smith
may just be a private friend of Dr. Bukola Saraki or Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
That reminds us of Atiku’s famous legislator friend he threw under the bus, Williams
Jefferson, who taught us how to hide laundered money ( which was meant for
Atiku Abubakar) in the deep freezer when the cops came knocking on his door!
In all, it is very obvious
now that the so-called American trip was a desperate trip for photo-ops.
Throughout the trip, Atiku Abubakar looked cagey, frightened and on edge. We
note the close support always provided by Senate President Bukola Saraki like a
comforting guardian angel. The visit and arrangements smack of things local
yahoo yahoo boys do to scam their victims. It is utterly disgusting and puerile
that it has been brought into a serious political contest.
Rather than being the
highpoint of his campaign, the American visit is indeed the lowest watermark of
Atiku Abubakar’s campaign. It was a political and P.R disaster. The statements
he released from there only to the Nigerian Press back home that he intends to
alienate other countries and do business with the U.S is actually the
antithesis to our policy of non-alignment.
For the information of
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his handlers, Nigerians know that Nigeria is already
working again for everyone and not for a few. As confirmed by him in a
town-hall meeting a few days before his disastrous trip to the U.S, he said he
wants to “get Nigeria working again” only for few of his friends who he claims
he wants to make rich. If he cannot get them rich now from his private
businesses, it is obvious that he is referring to the use of public funds to
make his friends rich. Nigerians should judge for themselves whether this is
the type of President they want.
Finally, whoever advised
Atiku Abubakar to undertake that trip to America just destroyed his entire
campaign and exposed him for who he is – a questionable character who has
continued to leave huge questions over his suitability for the highest office
of the land and as such cannot be trusted by the Nigerian people.
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