The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is in the Unted States, U.S.
This was made known by his media aide, Mr. Paul Ibe, in a statement he issued on Thursday.
According to him, the former vice president arrived the US at 8:20 p.m. Nigerian time.
While there, Atiku will meet with the Nigerian business community in the U.S. and U.S. government officials.
The statement reads: “Yesterday, Abubakar met with the business community in Lagos at an interactive session to unveil his plans to get Nigeria working again.
“Thursday morning, he left Abuja accompanied by the Director-General of PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation and Senate President Bukola Saraki for the United States.
“Atiku Abubakar will in the course of his trip hold meetings with the U.S. government officials, the business community and the Nigerian community.”
The visit is the first in about 12 years by Atiku who is said to have been avoiding the country because he was said to be wanted for alleged money laundering among other related offences.
The case has been used against Atiku by the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the campaign for the coming election intensified.
Infact, the Federal Government had warned the U.S. against issuing a visa to Atiku arguing that it could mean an approval of his candidature against President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.
Atiku’s former boss, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, was said to have facilitated the issuance of the U.S. visa to him.
It would be recalled that Obasanjo has been spirited in the fight against the re-election of Buhari.
It was based on that that Obasanjo approved the candidature of Atiku despite having earlier condemned him as a very corrupt person not fit to rule the country.
