The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has met with officials of the British government to discuss issues bordering on economy, security, and immigration among others that are likely to be of mutual interest if he is elected the president of Nigeria.
The former vice president, who is presently in the United Kingdom with his delegation, met with the British Minister of State for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell, Directors of National Security, Open Space, and seven other departmental and agency heads.
According to the Director of Public Affairs of the PDP presidential campaign, Senator Dino Melaye, the sessions were robust discussions on the areas that were slated for deliberations.
He said Atiku has been busy engaging Nigerians who will vote and others such as leaders of African countries in particular, saying that no other presidential candidate has had more interface with leaders than the PDP flagbearer.
Melaye said: “This morning, we met the British government, we met with the Minister of State for Development and Africa, Andrew Mitchell and we also met with directors of national security, we met with the director in charge of open space, we met with about seven departmental heads and directors of government agencies in the UK.
“It was a robust meeting and we had very robust discussions on economy, on defense, on security; we also had a lot of talk on immigration issue and it was a very great meeting.
“Our candidate is busy engaging Nigerians and those who actually have the capacity to vote. Not that he is not interacting globally. He has visited presidents across the globe more than any other presidential candidate.
“In the last two months, Atiku Abubakar has visited about seven African presidents, especially in the ECOWAS subregion to interact with them and to discuss the issue of insecurity across the region on how to tackle it. No other presidential candidate has done that.”
A senior member of the PDP presidential campaign also noted on Tuesday that the government of the United Kingdom invited Atiku to discuss areas of collaboration if he wins the February 25 election.
According to the source, the British government is hoping that if Atiku becomes president, the possibility exists to collaborate with him to improve and increase trade partnership with Nigeria.
