Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that visiting the United States of America is not a prerequisite for becoming president of Nigeria.
He made this statement in reaction to a question of how he intended to emerge Nigeria’s president without visiting the US on a BBC Hausa Service programme on Saturday.
Atiku said the last time he checked, visiting America was not enshrined in the Nigerian constitution as a precondition to become the nation’s number one citizen.
The Waziri Adamawa said, “I can be president without going to America.”
Atiku affirmed that the US government denied him a visa over “administrative process” but debunked allegations that the US government auctioned off a house belonging to him in the country.
He stressed that the house belonged to one of his wives, who has since sold it herself.
He equally said he does not lose sleep over a statement by his former boss, Olusegun Obasanjo that he (Atiku) will never emerge president as long as he (Obasanjo) is alive.
He said Obasanjo was merely trying to play God, while forgetting that he is not God.
Atiku said if God intends to make him president, no one, even Obasanjo, could alter God’s plans.
In the same vein, Atiku explained the cause of the rift between him and President Muhammadu Buhari that pushed him out of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“After 2015 general elections , I met the President . I told him that activities of the party have been crippled and there is a need to restructure .
“Also , I advised the President on issues concerning his administration . I said to him, ‘If things continue like this , I will quit ’, but Mr . Buhari turned a deaf ear and remained mum,” Atiku said.