Former VP Atiku Seeks Political Asylum & Green Card?

Former VP Atiku Seeks Political Asylum & Green Card?

By Paul Adujie
Saturday, 30 December 2006

The former vice president of Nigeria, Mr. Atiku Abubakar is said to be seeking political asylum and resident permit, or green card, as resident permits are colloquially referred in the United States of America.

Mr. Atiku Abubakar it will be recalled, fled to the United States after he caught wind of an intensive and massive probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which has had an ongoing searing search for public resources pillaged and plundered by the former vice president, public resources which converted for his personal beneft.

The former vice president of Nigeria, who was deemed expelled and dismissed by his former political party, the People Democratic Party last week, is currently in the state of Maryland, where he owns and maintains a palatial mansion in a well-heeled neighborhood. A mansion that he acquired about five years ago, an acquisition or purchased prohibited by law if undertaken while he was the vice president of Nigeria



Mr. Atiku Abubakar, now a political refugee in America? A man who was Nigeria's vice president until last week, is said to have become a political orphan who has become so desperate. He is currently sitting in limbo in his Maryland mansion. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports are that he is seriously contemplating a petition for political asylum, in which may secure a temporary respite from a very likely extradition request by the EFCC, in view of the monumental charges of corruption he faces in Nigeria.

Keen observers of Nigerian political events will recall that, the dismissed former vice president has in recent times, been making outrageous and outlandish accusations against his former political party, the PDDP, upon his decampment to the Action Congress political party. The Action Congress has been dubbed the Active Crooks by indomitable Nigerian commentator, Mr. Adebayo Animashaun. Action Congress has also been tagged the Associated Crooks! These nicknames, we are told, are a result of the presences of a preponderance of persons of questionable characters in Action Congress. The question then arises, why would the former vice president be so desperate to join a party with such membership, in which unsavory characters are said to be predominant?


According to some political analysts, the former vice president's personal ambition knows no bounds! His zeal to run for office as president at all costs and by all means, has in recent times, led him to making splendidly unwise choices, even as he has been making ridiculous and incredible pronouncements replete with a cocktail of lies and fictitious accusations against his friends and foes!



Take for instance, statements attributed to the disgraced former vice president Atiku Abubakar, in which he has been trashing the Nigerian leadership? Even though he has, during the past seven and half years been Nigeria's number two citizen, as he functioned then as then vice president!


It is clearly incredulous to discerning observers that the former vice president now suddenly sees it fit, to portray his former boss and his former political party as if evil personified?Or is that Atiku, all of a sudden, it is, as if Mr. Atiku now looks at his former boss, the president and his former political party, the PDP, as if some sorts of hydra-headed snake? Atiku, suddenly awoke from some sorts of hibernation or a seven and half year slumber?


Mr. Atiku should be seen for what he really is, a spineless, sniveling and dishonorable political opportunist!


He should be seen as a man who has no honor, no courage, no finesse, an opportunist and coward


It is infuriating that some Nigerians are clapping and egging him on, as Atiku postures as the leader of the rule of law and due process brigade, defending democracy and governance! Since when with that?


Mr. Atiku's recent public utterances and grandiose pronouncements would make you wonder if he suffers from multiple personalities disorders! Is Atiku Abubakar a a schizophrenic or schizoid person? How does anyone explain how Atiku could be an apostle of his former boss and the PDP for seven and half years, but, he makes a hundred and eighty degree turn to inform us, that his former boss and the PDP, are all there is, as all the evils in the world? Does anyone remember that, only about thirty days ago, Atiku told the world that he would pursue the reform policies of his boss and the PDP, if he became president? So, what changed all that?


It is sadly debilitating and enervating a process in which anyone try to make the pro-Atiku crowd see logic or reasons...Atiku is friends of the FBI courtesy of unethical behavior? He cooling his heels in a two million dollar house in Maryland USA even as I write this..... and yet, Atiku is the symbol of Democracy, Rule of Law in Nigeria? How can that possibly be? If there was good reasoning and logic in the heads of these Atiku supporters?


I have been asking, some of these questions, both privately and publicly, to which others are now beginning to add their voices! Ask yourself; Can Tony Blair of Britain cross over from his party and join the Conservative Party and still remain the Prime Minister of the Labour Government. Can he? I don’t think so! Can Dick Cheney in America cross over from Republican Party and join the Democratic Party and still remain the Vice President, it is not possible. The answer is NO

Can Cheney trash and thrash President Bush and the Republican party, and the war policy in Iraq, over and over and over again, then Cheney joins another party and then seeks to use taxpayer purchase d vehicles and jets to campaign against President Bush and the Republican party? NO

Cheney has been part of the Bush White House and government and policies for seven and half years.... Just as Atiku has been part of Aso Rock and Obasanjo's policies and government for seven and a half years

What do some Nigerians miss? That enable them to dream of Atiku as a champion of democracy, rule of law and due process?

Atiku should resign or be impeached, then he could use his illegally acquired wealth, his ABTI University in Yola, and his mansion in Maryland USA as pawns for money for his campaign with Action Congress... Active Crooks, or is it Associated Crooks? Why must the former VP be allowed to use government cars and government planes for his private campaign on behalf of Active Crooks or is it Associated Crooks?

Why must Nigerian taxpayers foot the bills for Mr. Atiku's campaign with AC? Has Atiku not stolen enough public money?Perhaps it is better to ignore the former VP Atiku? It will ensure his irrelevance! Sometimes, I feel I rather that, than allow this Atiku, who now appears and sounds like a wounded venomous snake, drags everyone and Nigeria to a political precipice! His wings does need to be clipped.

I have actually suggested in the past, that it was probably better and cost effective to ignore the former VP of Nigeria, Mr. Atiku and his antics... pointedly ignoring him will rapidly relegate and consign him to the junk-yard of political irrelevance! BUT.... I will not agree with anyone's suggestions .... to the effect that, the only way President Obasanjo will maintain his status as statesman... (which he undoubtedly is), is for our president to allow Mr. Atiku to trash the presidency, ridicule it, ridicule the person of President Obasanjo and his PDP ..... and then, Mr. Atiku takes the vice presidential jet for a spin.... on campaign tour for Action Congress, NO, Active Crooks.... apologies to Mr. Adebayo Animashaun.... is completely unacceptable!

I am sure that the FORMER VP of Nigeria, Mr. Atiku can afford a private jet for his campaign as Active Crooks' presidential candidate! He can sell his mansion in Maryland and buy a jet for his campaign! or he can sell his University in Yola to fun the AC campaigns! Atiku is an opportunistic dishonorable man without courage! And a cross section of Nigerians agree with my position; Mr.
Alagemo wrote and I quote



Atiku can't play on both sides of the fence. He is either in this "corrupt" administration and in the "dying" PDP or he is NOT. He has chosen to neither belong to the Obj government nor to the PDP so why should he keep the privileges both afford? I believe he should not be allow to and this is without prejudice to whatever the constitution says since we can make it say anything we want. Irrespective of who is more corrupt between them the onus in this particular issue is on Atiku. Clearly Atiku have chosen to fight Obj and PDP so they have the right to fight him back and his hiding behind mandate and constitution and courts and such is simply folly. Atiku wants to wage a battle without first drawing the battle lines. Thats dangerous. This is not a constitutional crisis. It is a crisis of irresponsibility, one that can only arises when you want to eat your cake and still have it.






Another Nigerian with the pseudonym, No Smoking, also commented that; There was no need for a sitting VP to be engaged in dispute with his boss the President. If they had a difference of opinion such that the VP felt he could not continue to serve under the boss, the honourable thing is to call it a day and quit. This is happening everyday in businesses around the world.

Ukiwe as a military VP under IBB was able to stand up to oppose his boss. He lost his job quickly and was retired from the Navy. His opinion, nevertheless, helped the Nigerian public to understand that IBB and the Caliphate were heading the country towards an undisclosed agenda. The revelation brought about a cessation of that drive, as the press hounded the dictator to a stand-still. Ukiwe has remained an unsung hero by taking that stand. That is what is expected from men of honor.


I thank these Nigerians indeed, for their analyses, it is as if, some other Nigerians, particularly, Atiku supporters, are not capable of deciphering the sequence of events or cause and effects... but instead, their warped and twisted emotions led them to conclude that Atiku is Mr. Democracy, Mr. Rule of Law and Mr. Due Process .... AND to all that,? I say BULL!


Clearly, Atiku Abubakar is a hypocrite pontificating sanctimoniously as some messiah for democracy, the rule of law, due process and good governance and Nigerians should not be suckered into Atiku's lies!


Atiku Abubakar is self-absorbed and self-consumed with his political ambition. He is no messiah!


He had no higher ideals while he was a Customs officer or while was vice president


If Atiku's former boss and his former political party, are what he has suddenly painted them to be?


The question then arises, when did Mr. Atiku know these things? Why did he remain part of these "ultimate evils" on earth? Did Atiku make these sudden U-turns only until he realized the impossibility or futility of his presidential ambition on the platform of the PDP? Why did he have to wait until he was suspended, expelled and dismissed? And now, we supposed to accept and trust his volte face? Haba!


It would appear that Atiku has become a desperado! And in his state of desperation, he is a drowning man, who is clinging to all straws in extreme futility? It is clear that he has so far failed in his attempt to shield himself from the massive corruption probe by the EFCC. We know and trust Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and his EFCC to always, always, get their man!


The Case Against Atiku – By EFCC Written by Nuhu Ribadu , Chairman EFCC

http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php/content/view/4631/55


The fear of arrest, prosecution and imprisonment upon any attempt to return to Nigeria, has informed former vice president Atiku Abubakar's devil's alternative, a petition seeking political asylum in the United States or France! according to usually well-informed sources.




I would have welcomed Atiku Abubakar to the Diaspora and encouraged him to join the distinguished membership of Nigerians in Diaspora Organization (NIDO) as I would of every Diaspora Nigerian, but, Atiku former boss provided the impetus for NIDO's formation and operation. NIDO is therefore part of his former boss's reform agenda which Atiku now trashes every minute! And besides, NIDO will not welcome a discredited Nigerian citizen politician, who is an epitome of corruption, as Atiku is. NIDO would not allow Atiku into its membership! Not with the former vice president's soiled reputation as a pillager and plunderer of Nigeria's public treasury. NIDO is certain to say, absolutely NOT to any application from Atiku and his ilk!