Spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, Kenneth Okonkwo, has accused President Bola Tinubu of deliberately staying away from the United Nations General Assembly in New York over fears of being arrested in the United States.
Okonkwo made the allegation while appearing on Arise News on Wednesday, claiming that Tinubu was avoiding the US because he did not want to face what he described as “the Venezuela option.”
He also criticised presidential aides, particularly those defending Tinubu’s absence from the UNGA, alleging that they were making statements without knowing the facts while the President remained away from the gathering.
“Onanuga is there saying what he does not know, and the President is somewhere hiding. Maybe because he does not want the Venezuela option, because he ought to be at the UNGA in person.
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“What is he doing? He has not been to the United Nations for three consecutive years. A reasonable man should say that he is hiding from the United States of America.
“Remember, the ambassador to the United Nations, Jimoh Ibrahim, had told us gleefully that the President was going to come and sit in the front row with President Trump to represent us. What happened? Lies.
“The President did not go. But there is a nexus. How come President Trump said anybody who is involved in drug trafficking would be taken and put in jail? The Venezuelan president is in jail because of that.
“Now, how come there is a paper filed by your President that he does not want his file to be released in the United States of America? That is allegedly for his involvement in alleged drug dealing, and, of course, we all know that he paid $460,000 in a plea bargain. That is not an allegation. That is a fact.
“That one has been sorted out, and they say that was in order to assuage his involvement in narcotic trading and trafficking after his deposition. So, there is a nexus here, and every reasonable man will say he is running away from the United States of America.”