How Atiku Evade 'Justice' In America

The visit of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to Washington two weeks ago to meet with top US diplomats and lawmakers was only possible thanks to a temporary suspension of a travel ban linked to decade-old bribery scandals,

Atiku’s failure to travel to the US for more than 12 years had been used as a campaign weapon against him by the ruling party, which consistently maintained that he would be arrested for corruption should he set foot on American soil.

Atiku eventually entered the US in January, but speculations about his allegedly corrupt past have refused to go away — and questions about this dominated his appearance on ‘TheCandidates’ last week.

Quoting “people familiar with the matter”, including “several US government officials”, Reuters said the travel ban was waived temporarily by the US State Department after lobbyists mounted a campaign among congressional lawmakers arguing that the administration should not snub the leading challenger to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in the February 16 election.

The US administration has not commented on Atiku’s status or his travel, but several US diplomats and others familiar with the visit told Reuters the former Vice President had been banned from entering the United States for the past several years after he figured prominently in two corruption cases.

For Atiku’s supporters, the fact he was able to visit Washington on Jan. 17 and 18 without being arrested

“One person familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Atiku was allowed to enter because the United States saw little benefit to creating bad blood with the man who might be the next leader of Africa’s most populous nation and the continent’s biggest oil producer,” the paper wrote.

“Lobbyists hired by Atiku said they sought to overcome resistance at the State Department by securing support from members of Congress for the visit, as well as arguing that the top US official for African affairs, Assistant Secretary Tibor Nagy, had an obligation to encourage democracy in the seventh most populous country in the world.”

It quoted a State Department official as saying “Assistant Secretary Nagy was pleased to meet with him and share the US government’s expectations that Nigeria’s elections be free, fair, transparent, and peaceful, and reflect the will of the Nigerian people”, but stressing the department had not requested the waiver.

Atiku’s visa troubles stem from when he served as Nigeria’s vice president, from 1999 to 2007. He figured prominently in the corruption trial of former US Representative William Jefferson, who was accused of trying to bribe Atiku in an effort to expand a technology business in Nigeria. Jefferson was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 13 years in prison. His sentence was subsequently reduced.

Separately, US Senate investigators in 2010 alleged that one of Atiku’s four wives helped him transfer more than $40 million in “suspect funds” into the United States from offshore shell companies.

At least $1.7 million of that money was bribes paid by German technology company Siemens AG, according to Senate investigators. Siemens pleaded guilty to bribery charges in 2008 and agreed to pay a $1.6 billion fine.

Atiku has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Neither he nor his wife face criminal charges in the United States.

The paper also said Atiku’s whirlwind visit to Washington last month was put together with the help of two US lobbying firms.

Holland & Knight was hired by Atiku personally in December to help him secure a visa, in part by enlisting members of Congress to request one on his behalf, according to a lobbyist for the firm. It has been paid $80,000 so far.

Ballard Partners was hired by Atiku’s political party at a rate of $90,000 per month in September, before Atiku emerged as the party’s candidate, according to US disclosure filings.

The firm’s lobbyists worked to set up a meeting with Nagy, arguing it would show that the United States wanted to encourage free and fair elections in a country where graft is endemic.

“We are not asking the administration or anyone to take sides, but to merely demand the same level of freeness and fairness,” Ballard lobbyist Jamie Rubin told Reuters.