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Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo on Saturday reacted to allegation by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) that he had been mounting pressure on American authorities to expunge an alleged corruption case against his anointed and presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
The ruling party allege that Atiku is wanted in the United States for fraud, claiming Obasanjo was scheming to have the alleged charges dropped in order to clear the path for Atiku’s entry into that country.
Recall that Atiku has not been able to enter the U.S. since at least 2007 when he completed his two-term as vice-president, serving under Mr Obasanjo the entire eight years.
Obasanjo and Atiku had been fiercely antagonistic of one another for several years, with the former president insisting he would never support his ex-vice-president’s political ambition.
The crisis was, however, resolved earlier this week when Atiku and a host of political and religious leaders visited him at home in Abeokuta and pleaded with him for forgiveness. Forcing Obasanjo to promptly endorse Atiku, who had a week ago emerged the presidential candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
The APC said Obasanjo’s purported intervention betrayed his “legendary hypocrisy and self-serving interest in national affairs.”
Reacting to the claim on Saturday Obasanjo’s spokesman, Kehinde Akinyemi said: “Baba cannot be responding to frivolous allegations by a vicious political party.” “Let them bring any shred of evidence to back their false claim.”
“It is unfortunate that they are trying to distract the attention of Nigerians in the lead up to a general election rather than focus on campaigning on serious issues to lift the country out of its current state,” Akinyemi added.