Soalabo West, the acting national coordinator of the Atiku Advancement Project, has in totality condemned the harassment of Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, by the security agents at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Abubakar landed in Abuja from Dubai on Sunday, November 10, morning but was humiliated in the name of search by the security operatives at the airport.

In a press statement made available to journalists in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, West lamented that Nigeria is fast sliding into a full-blown dictatorship and tyranny under President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

He called on Nigerian electorate to vote wisely in the 2019 presidential election and ensure the emergence of Abubakar as the next Nigerian leader, who will make Nigeria great again.

Meanwhile, Abubakar said on Sunday, November 10 that the treatment meted to him at the airport was meant to “intimidate” him and his staff members.

The PDP candidate tweeted via his verified Twitter handle, @atiku “I arrived to Abuja this morning, to a search by agents of the state, aimed at intimidating me and my staff.”

The PDP similarly issued a statement saying it “condemned in the strongest terms the unleashing of a special security squad of army, police and paramilitary agencies by the Muhammadu Buhari presidency to physically harass our presidential candidate.”

It alleged that the “Gestapo-style attack” was carried out “on orders from above.”

The statement said the agents “rushed our candidate… and attempted to physically manhandle him before invading his aircraft with dangerous weapons to conduct a violent search.”

It said the search did not turn up “anything incriminating” but that the agents “tampered with” Abubakar’s belongings including campaign documents.

However, Hadi Sirika, the minister of Aviation, described the incident as “routine” and said the process applied “to all international arrivals” in a statement responding to the claims.

“While it is true that the Task Force on Currency at the airport did the routine action of checking the former Vice President’s travel bag, he was accorded full respect as a senior citizen,” he said.

– Nov. 12, 2018 @ 17:37 GMT |