Atiku jets to US, ‘to speak at chamber of commerce’

Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP), is expected to arrive in Washington, DC on
Thursday, TheCable
reports^[1].

The former vice-president is reportedly scheduled to speak at
the Chamber of Commerce on Friday, from 2:30pm to 4pm local time,
although TheCable could not confirm the event.

The private roundtable, to be hosted by the US Chamber of
Commerce and the US Africa Business Centre, is reportedly going to
hold at 1615 H street, NW 20062.

But TheCable has sent an e-mail to the centre to confirm if the
roundtable will take place as there is no information about the
event on the website.

Atiku secretly flew out from Lagos on Wednesday night with most
of his aides and associates taken unawares.

He was scheduled to be in Ogun state on Thursday morning but the
event was cancelled.

TheCable had exclusively reported in December 2018 that Atiku
had been issued with a US visa for the first time in 13 years.

His row with the US authorities began after the FBI investigated
a bribery scandal involving William Jefferson, former US
congressman, in 2004.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has repeatedly said he was
running away from investigations by the US authorities.

Adams Oshiomhole, the national chairman of the APC, had said
Atiku could not travel everywhere, asking Nigerians to elect
President Muhammadu Buhari whom he said could go everywhere.

“We have a president whose integrity cannot be faulted anywhere
in the world, but the PDP has a presidential candidate who can only
travel to Dubai,” Oshiomhole had said.

Atiku was accused of demanding a bribe of $500,000 to facilitate
the award of contracts to two American telecommunication firms in
Nigeria.

The FBI had searched his residence in the posh neighbourhood of
Potomac, Maryland, but no money was found.

The investigators had videotaped Jefferson, who was the
congressman representing Louisiana, receiving $100,000 worth of
$100 bills which he claimed was meant for Atiku, but the former
vice-president has consistently denied the allegation.

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo was said to have been very
instrumental in the process which made the US grant Atiku the
visa.

Atiku is expected to hold consultative forum with Nigerians in
diaspora, as TheCable initially reported.

The clarification came following an online tweet from the
Publisher of Ovation magazine, Mr. Dele Momodu, who shared the web
link of the online report. See his tweet below:

BREAKING… ATIKU LANDS IN US…https://t.co/0nEKXZANWl^[2]

— Dele Momodu Ovation (@DeleMomodu) January
17, 2019^[3]