The United States Department of Justice has denied having any record that indicates that Nigeria’s former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has a pending lawsuit in the US, Punch reveals.
This was conveyed in an e-mail response by US DOJ, Peter Carr after Punch had requested a clarification on the matter by the US. Carr replied: “Thank you for reaching out to us. I have checked the public court records, and they do not show cases filed against a defendant named Atiku Abubakar.”
The mail also asked the department to confirm whether Abubakar has been banned from entering the US and if there is any court case against him concerning the Halliburton scandal which resulted in the conviction of a US lawmaker, William Jefferson.
Asked if it is true that the ex-vice president (now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress) was banned from entering the US, the American official said the issue was confidential.
He said, “Visa issues are confidential under section 222(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. If your question is specifically about entry – not about visas per se – I would refer you to the US Customs and Border Protection.”
The latest information has deflected claims by Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, that Abubakar was avoiding a visit to the US because he might be charged with a case of money laundering.
El-Rufai who was reacting to an interview Abubakar granted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s quarterly publication, Zero Tolerance, where he had accused the Kaduna governor of corruption by offering him Transcorp’s shares
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