Atiku Alleges Intimidation By Presidency Over Airport Search

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has alleged intimidation by the Presidency over the airport search conducted by a special combined security team.

Atiku returned from his vacation trip to Dubai around 1:30am, early Sunday morning, and was subjected to a thorough search by a squad comprising of the army, police, customs and immigration officers.

The presidential candidate in a tweet on Sunday said: “I arrived to Abuja this morning to a search by agents of the state, aimed at intimidating me and my staff.

“I am committed to building a Nigeria where no citizen is intimidated by agents of state who are paid to protect them.”

In a retweet, his running mate in the election billed for next year, Peter Obi, tweeted: “The sin of HE Atiku is that he is the presidential candidate of the opposition PD. We will continue to work and strategize to get Nigeria working again.”

The All Progressives Congress (APC) the ruling party in Nigeria, had called for a probe of Atiku’s strategy meeting in Dubai by security agencies.

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Yekini Nabena, had alleged that “There is more to the meeting that meets the eye. Nigeria has enough meeting/conference rooms, many of which meet international standards. It is therefore clear that the Dubai meeting was for other sinister political purposes ahead of the 2019 general elections.

“Our intelligence, anti-graft and security agencies must be awake to its responsibility of investigating the Dubai meeting. Cash-and-carry politicians must be prevented from moving illicit cash around to induce voters and sponsor election violence and rigging.”