The discussion on whether former vice president and 2019 presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) can visit the United States of America or not has been an ongoing one.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday in Abuja, Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture and former publicity secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), according to Thisday, warned the US government not “to give the impression that it is endorsing one particular candidate over the other” by issuing Atiku an American visa.
He said:
Our position is that if the former VP already has a US visa, we have no problem about it. What we warn the US government is not to give the impression that it is endorsing one particular candidate over the other. That is what is going to happen, if for instance the former VP is granted a visa.
We are not unaware; I think it is also in the public domain, that Atiku has engaged the service of some lobbyists in the US to facilitate the issuance of visa for him.
As you all will be aware, for more than 12 years there has been a congressional bi-partisan investigation of corruption against certain individuals which had made it difficult for the former vice president to secure a US visa.
I am sure you will all recall the Jefferson case and what they called the cold $90,000 in the fridge. This is not the making of this administration, it has been ongoing.