TheCable

Femi Adesina, spokesman of President Muhammadu Buhari, has described as “fictive concoction” the claim of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar that Buhari was banned from entering the US for 15 years.

Abubakar said this in an interview with The Boss newspaper published by Dele Momodu.

He said the Nigerian leader could not enter the US  “on account of religious considerations”.

“For about 15 years, Buhari could not enter America on account of religious considerations,” Abubakar had said in the interview.

But Adesina debunked the allegation, saying the former number two citizen should know better.

“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,” Adesina said in a statement.

“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.”