President Muhammadu Buhari has countered the claim that he was banned from entering the United States of America for 15 years owing to religious consideration.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar made the claim in an interview published in BOSS newspaper on Saturday.
Atiku who was responding to a question on why he had not been able to visit the United States for many years said the denial of visa was not peculiar to him.
According to him, Buhari also could not visit the United States for many years because he was “banned.”
But reacting in a statement issued by his media aide, Mr. Femi Adesina, Buhari said the claim by Atiku was a mere “factitive concoction.”
Read also: Why Buhari couldn’t enter US for 15 years –Atiku
He said, “At no time was President Buhari, as a private person, ever forbidden from entering any country in the world.”
The statement reads: “Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, claims in an interview published Saturday that ‘for about 15 years, Buhari could not enter America on account of religious considerations.’
“This fictive concoction being passed off as truth is mind boggling, coming from a former Number Two man of Nigeria, who should know the truth. At no time was President Buhari, as a private person, ever forbidden from entering any country in the world. Rather, the rest of the world has always held Muhammadu Buhari as a man of sterling qualities, strong on integrity, transparency and accountability.
“The same testimony is still borne of the Nigerian President by many world leaders today.
“It is curious that former VP Abubakar had been asked why he had not visited America for over a decade, something that had been a stubborn fact dogging his footsteps.
“Instead of answering directly, he begged the question, saying Buhari also had been disallowed from entering the same country for 15 years, before becoming President.
“We hereby make it resoundingly clear that what the former Vice President said only exists in the realm of his imagination. If he has issues to settle with American authorities, he should do so, rather than clutch at a straw.”
