Festus Keyamo, the Director, Strategic Communications for the APC
Presidential Campaign Council has issued an official statement on
opposition candidate, Atiku Abubakar’s trip to the United States which
he describes as ‘clandestine’.
Read the full statement below….
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.Thank you.