Stella Dimoko Korkus.com: Presidential Candidate Atiku Allegedly Paid Thousands Of Dollars To Visit The US

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Tuesday, February 05, 2019

Presidential Candidate Atiku Allegedly Paid Thousands Of Dollars To Visit The US

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the February 16 election, enlisted the services of two U.S lobbying firms and forked out thousands of dollars just to set foot on United States soil on January 17, 2019, a report by Reuters has revealed.






The Reuters reports states that: “Atiku's whirlwind visit to Washington last month was put together with the help of two U.S. lobbying firms.

“Holland and 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 U.S. disclosure filings”.



The U.S overlooked Atiku's corruption cases because of democracy


The report also states that the lobbyists worked with United States lawmakers who saw no problem getting Atiku into their country as a way of deepening democracy in the world’s seventh most populous country.


Reuters quotes lobbyists hired by Atiku as saying that they sought to overcome resistance at the State Department by securing support from members of Congress for the visit.

They then told top U.S. official for African affairs, Assistant Secretary Tibor Nagy, that the United States had an obligation to encourage democracy in the seventh most populous country in the world.


Several U.S. government officials told Reuters that the travel ban placed on Atiku was waived temporarily by the U.S. State Department after lobbyists got to work, mounting a campaign among congressional lawmakers and putting forward the argument that the administration should not snub the leading challenger to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari in the Feb. 16 election.




The corruption cases in which the name Atiku was mentioned


Atiku’s visit to the U.S after over a decade, was hailed by his supporters and cited as proof that he is not as corrupt as the governing party has made him out to be.


Atiku, who served as Nigeria’s Vice President from 1999 to 2007, has been prominently mentioned in two high profile corruption cases perpetrated on U.S and Nigerian soil.

According to the charge sheet, from 2000 to 2008, Jennifer Douglas, a U.S. citizen and fourth wife of Atiku, helped her husband transfer over $40 million in suspicious funds into the United States.


The name Atiku Abubakar also came up in a Siemens broadband contract scandal involving Nigerian and American officials in the mid-2000s.


Investigators say U.S. authorities probed the Siemens broadband contract because it was awarded to iGate, an American company in which Williams Jefferson, then U.S. federal lawmaker from Louisiana, retained considerable interest.

Jefferson and Atiku were best of friends at the time and it is believed in intelligence circles that the contract went on without glitches in Nigeria because Jefferson had agreed to pay bribe money to top political figures in Nigeria, including Atiku.


In a secretly recorded conversation with the FBI, Jefferson disclosed that Atiku was promised $500,000 if he influenced the broadband deal from the Nigerian end of things.

U.S senate investigators say $1.7 million of that money was shelled out by Siemens in bribe money.


Siemens pleaded guilty to bribery charges in 2008 and agreed to pay a $1.6 billion fine.

Jefferson was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 13 years in prison. His sentence was subsequently reduced.



Atiku maintains he is not corrupt

Atiku has repeatedly denied the corruption accusations flung at him.

“On the issue of corruption, I have challenged anyone, anywhere, who has any evidence of corruption against me to come forward. I’m sure they would have combed everywhere trying to find anything incriminating against me, but they have not found it, or they are still searching,” Atiku said in June of 2018.


In April of 2018, Atiku boasted to the BBC that “I can be president without going to America”.
Atiku and his entourage, which included Senate President Bukola Saraki and former Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka lodged at the Trump International Hotel, owned by U.S president Donald Trump, during their visit.


They met with several hundred Nigerian expatriates there, according to two people who attended the meetings, Reuters writes.

Trump’s luxury hotel is the subject of several lawsuits that allege Trump is violating an anti-corruption clause in the U.S. Constitution that limits the president's ability to accept gifts from foreign government.

Atiku's supporters told Reuters that they settled on the hotel because they were able to book rooms at a discounted rate with only a few days' notice.


"I think it was because of the availability of the space,"Uche Udemadu, an official with the U.S. chapter of the PDP, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Atiku has been running for the office of Nigeria's President since 1992.
Source:Reuters..




*Paid thousands of Dollars and yet there is no proof?..I dont want to believe this report,The Candidates are in a 'survival of the fittest' situation and will do anything to bring the other down right now...Good luck to them

33 comments:

  1. Even if it is true of the allegation, is it their money? Isn't it worth clearing his names from the major accusations of the APC propaganda? Who wouldn't go to any length to have their name cleared over a scandal? Then it used to be Atiku can't step his foot on the American soil. Today the narrative have changed to he bribed his way through. Who among the politicians we have in this country that haven't or won't bribe his way over their interest?

    In vain trying to stop a man whose time has come. Atiku the nightmare of the APC hooligans.

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    1. The report doesn't said he brird his way. It says he hired lobbying firms to work for him and paid them. Stella the proof is in the firms' disclosure filings. That's how Reuters knows he paid them. They had to disclose they were paid. The only speculation is what exactly was the extent of the lobbying

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    2. Pls make una name one ex head state who clean or politician
      .atiku this atiku that .make we hear word

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    3. They should make their proof public or forever remain silent. Propaganda as usual. I won't be surprised if APC are behind this if at all they aren't the ones sponsoring this allegations.

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    4. 10:34 please help me out. What is the difference between lobbying and bribe? Can a lobby scale through without financial or material inducement?

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    5. Pls make una name one ex head state who clean or politician
      .atiku this atiku that .make we hear word

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    6. Hahahahahah , see **painment** I know that APC/buhari/oshiomole have NOT been able to sleep ever since Atiku went to US !!!!! They can't seem to phantom how it happened!!!!! I can guarantee them come 16th of this month, they will probably have heart attack, because the **shock** will be extraordinary !!!!!

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    7. Tee Jay lobbying is an official recognized job. There are rules in America about how you lobby and you do have to disclose you were paid and how much. It's ok to hire a company to persuade the government of your course. You do it with presentations , conversation etc. You're not allowed to give the official money. That would be bribery. But you can definitely send the research that supports your cause.bthe two firms mentioned are would renowned so ...

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  2. I just Love Atiku maybe because he Married My Sisters Jennifer Douglas..the Attention on this man is too Much jaree, Who is not corrupt...

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    1. I actually was rooting for the Senate president, but after the PDP primaries, Atiku shocked me when he took Peter Obi for VP. This single decision, was what made me realize that Atiku had what it takes. When even PDP & apc members where thinking Ekweremadu or some seating Governors, Atiku showed class, commitment, ability to make tough but right decisions!!! Atiku to chose a man who is most qualified to be Nigeria's next president was it for me !!!!

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  3. and so?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

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  4. Lobbying and politics go hand in hand.

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    1. Exactly. The same way APC lobbied/bribed Omisore in Osun 'governotorial' election.

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  5. Even if he paid millions of dollars...shebi he don go come back....zoo country

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  6. Even if he paid millions, if they don't want him, they won' t allow him access. It's not cash and carry.

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  7. APC please face your work. let atiku drink water and drop cup

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  8. Stella, did they pay you for this character slandering?

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  9. Everybody is entitled to entitled to their beliefs and opinions. As the story goes, Mr Atiku's name came up in 2 corruption case and the U.S company used to lobby for his trip to the country collected money! Why pay so much when and if you don't have any skeletons in your closet? Why travel with a Diplomatic Entourage? Well, we can't tell....what do I know? But for sure, after this election, rigged or not, A.P.C/Buhari is coming back Insha Allahu.

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    1. Aisha Buhari could not enter the US prior to being wife of the President. Does APC think Nigerians have forgotten?
      Abeg I don't have energy for plenty talk...but lobbying didn't start with Atiku

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  10. English is disturbing some people here. So you’ve written your own dictionary where to lobby and to bribe has the same meaning? U need to go back to basic one and start learning a for apple to z.

    Back to my point jare. Atiku should lobby and bribe the whole of America and Europe he won’t smell that sit of power in this country again. We are never patient in this country. Don’t u people read that news? I guess some of those commenting here only see pictures and here based on mere say. Not exonerating the incumbent though. 16 good years of Democracy ruled and governed by the other party where has that led us to? From NSA to minister of petroleum, budget, and all, didnt we see how much is been looted by only one person? And all these were in pdp. Not saying some of the apcs aren’t corrupt but please tell me which nation can survive this obnoxious looting of the highest order? Will the man perform magic under four years? A house u built for months, pulled it down in a day and u expect to build it back in just a day? How possible is that?

    If una like make u vote for the same pdp. But as far as this nation is concern it’s a two horse race. They don kuku steal my wallet that I have my pvc. If u have yours use it wisely. Sentiments apart, we need a change. But we will have to endure this set of old guys for the next three elections. God bless Nigeria

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  11. See comments from Nigerian youths...…Is there really any hope for this country? See responses to allegations of corruption..."is it your money" really? The statement "a nation is only as successful as the intellectual capability of its majority"is really true if not why does it seem our options are limited to Buhari and Atiku...between someone who is not aware of his surroundings and someone with a track record of public looting. What is wrong with the Nigerian youths? What will it take to make the youths see that it is their tomorrow they are being robbed off.


    Why are we not talking about the other candidates? Our options are not limited to Buhari and Atiku...there are other candidates.

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    1. Ope, we are not there yet. I wish others can have a taste too so as to know what they have to offer. But I’m sure a lot of we youths out there have sold our heart to these two political juggernauts in the party of apc and pdp. To sanitize our mind and be ready for a true change will take us another three rounds of election. Those other guys need to step up thief games. It’s obvious they don’t have the money to throw around but once we are fully awake as a people then there is hope in sight

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    2. I just laugh when people say"I'm atikulated" etc. Atiku has been in a position of power in the past, what were is achievement has a number 2 citizen of this nation?

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  12. Now that the table is turn around it does not matter right? I can see we Nigerians are our own problem. This country can never get better with these mindset of you gullible people.
    How I wish I can pray for him to win this election so that u wl all know the true Atiku that you are dealing with. Na here I dey....

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    1. I wish there’s a way we can contact. If Atiku be declared winner I’ll send u 50k. None is better but he isn’t better than Buhari. They had the power to make history when they were in power. 16 years of pdp. Where were they? He was opportune to be a vp for 8 years what’s the impact? He had told u guys he will bring his business idea into play. Then u can kiss having electricity goodbye. He’s one of the key suppliers of generator set. When we have abundance what did they do with it? Per barrel of oil spanned over $180 per barrel when they were there what did he do? I wish the younger guys can win but not Atiku. He will lose with a huge margin

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  13. The usual hateful Gang will be here clapping and cheering on that Notable Thief Atiku..... No wonder una situation still be like kpokpo garri.....

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  14. With the comments by some youth, I now know why Nigeria is in her current state. Even those who’s future are being stolen now support the thieves, Jesus please come quick and save the situation.

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  15. Pathetic lot! Atiku will give you all Hbp. Stupid mentality. Even the states DON'T want him there, He won't have cleared customs. If there was an arrest warrant, FBI would have held him up with questions. He went to the states and left. Diplomatic entourage indeed. Abegi. BMC can make senseless noise. On the 16th Feburary, I will vote, mobilize people to vote Atiku/Obi. If not for ANYTHING for the senseless killings of INNOCENT NIGERIANS, that includes PREGNANT WOMEN, KIDS etc. If not for anything for the fact that Buhari is senile and needs to go home to his WIFE and 150cows. Allow that man RETIRE for goodness sake. @APCSHIT if Buhari has done well, you lot wont need this nonsense propaganda. You lot succeeded with propaganda in 2015, Affliction shall not rise a SECOND time. Buhari, Abba Kyari and all them kitchen cabinet members are WICKED! Even if i'm paid $10m i wont vote Buhari, will they pay all NIGERIANS $10m. Do you know how many Nigerians BEG to EAT. Family men begging to do ANYTHING to feed their families. Haba? This economic since 2015 has been on REVERSE. No ECONOMIC headway. The only plan most people have is to RELOCATE!

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  16. This story promotes Atiku as a man who knows how to get things done.

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  17. Enter your commen
    it must not be buhari or atiku plz. I think we have other options.

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