American journalist and former research director of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, Judd Legum has said that Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) paid as much as $540,000 (about N1.9bn) to get his way into the US.
In his article titled “What does a $1.1 million lobbying contract buy in Trump’s Washington?” Legum said the Peoples Democratic Party’s deal with Brian Ballard, a top lobbyist with deep connections to the Trump administration, was instrumental to Atiku’s trip.
The PDP presidential flagbearer was unable to visit the United states for several years untill last week when Ballard and former president Olusegun Obasanjo brokered a deal for him.
Legum added that Atiku’s inability to enter the US may be as a result of the Presidential Proclamation 7750 signed by President George Bush, which bans entry for current and former corrupt foreign officials — especially those whose corruption has a nexus in the country.
He said this led Atiku’s team into hiring Ballard, who chaired the Trump Victory Organization in Florida and “lobbied on behalf of the Trump Organization in the state for more than a decade.”
He said the contract required an immediate payment of $270,000 with another $270,000 due in late December 2018.
“A month later, Atiku is in the US — and back in Nigeria for a stronger campaign for the presidency,” Legum wrote.
“Now Abubakar is back in Nigeria, buoyed by his trip to the United States as his campaign enters its final days. His campaign slogan is Trumpian: ‘Let’s get Nigeria working again.’”