How Obasanjo Helped Atiku Break 13-Year Jinx Of Obtaining U.S Visa

After 13 years of unsuccessful attempts, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, has finally been issued a Visa to the United States of America, according to reports.

Atiku, who is the 2019 presidential standard bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is said to have left the shores of Nigeria for the United Kingdom en route the U.S, according to TheCable.

The development followed recent panic by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who had warned that the U.S government would be endorsing Atiku for 2019 Presidency if the PDP candidate is granted visa into the U.S ahead of the poll.

Meanwhile, THE WHISTLER had exclusively reported in early November that Atiku would be jetting out to the United States to speak at an event slated for December 12.

His exit to the United Kingdom on Saturday is said to have been confirmed by one of his family members.

Atiku’s sudden success with the US visa after 13 years of unsuccessful attempts is said to be connected to a “critical” role that former president Olusegun Obasanjo played.

THE WHISTLER recalls that Obasanjo had after his recent reconciliation meeting with his former Vice President promised to do anything humanly possible to ensure he settles whatever issue he was having at the international level ahead of the 2019 presidential election.

“There are still areas, nationally and internationally, where you have to mend fences and make amends,” Obasanjo had said at the meeting in his Ogun State residence, adding that, “the rest of the coast within and outside the country can be cleared. And if there is anything I can do and you want me to do in that respect, I will do.”

Atiku’s initial inability to travel to the U.S for over a decade had been linked to his alleged involvement in the bribery scandal involving a former US congressman, William Jefferson.

The former Vice President had been accused of demanding a bribe of $500,000 to facilitate the award of contracts to two American telecommunication firms in Nigeria.

But his reported success in obtaining the U.S visa may now weaken Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which had hitherto taunted the opposition PDP’s presidential candidate over his inability to visit the US.