The United State’s chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, said the visit of the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar to the country doesn’t cleanse him of the alleged corruption allegations against him.
“The questionable character of the individual does not evaporate because he has stepped on the soil of America,” Adeshegun Labinjo, chairman, US chapter of APC said in a statement on Friday.
“A thief remains a thief no matter where he or she visits. Obviously, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku has every reason to have kept off the USA given the cloak of corruption he is wearing.”
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“After a long spell of noticeable absence and factual concerns about Abubakur Atiku’s antecedents in the USA arising from his dealings with former Congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana, who was convicted and served a jail term on account of bribery resulting from a telecommunication transaction in Nigeria, Atiku is now here again in the US,” he added.
Mr Labinjo further stated that the presidential candidate’s ” entry and presence in the USA is a mockery of President Bush Presidential Proclamation 7750 which affirms the denial of US visa to foreign officials involved with corruption and other supporting legislations by the congress.”
“APC-USA believes that Alhaji Abubakar Atiku should be held accountable for his involvement in money laundering.” he added.
Mr Abubakar arrived Washington Dulles International Airport alongside Senate President Bukola Saraki on Friday. He is expected to speak at the United States Chamber of Commerce in DC on Friday
The former vice president has not has not visited the United States since he was indicted about 13 years ago.
Mr Abubakar and his fourth wife Jennifer Douglas, an American citizen, were allegedly indicted in 2010 in a 328-page American Senate committee report for transferring over $40 million “suspect funds” to America from offshore accounts between 2002 and 2008.
He insisted on several occasions that he has done nothing wrong stating he can be Nigerian president without visiting America, one of Nigeria’s most important allies
Mr Abubakar served as Nigerian vice president between 1999 and 2007.
