What is Atiku’s crime, Peter Obi Fumes
By Nwafor Sunday
“His only offence is that he is the presidential candidate of an opposition party. It is not as if you are not allowed to do a routine check,” Peter Obi former governor of Anambra state said.
Fielding questions from a TV presenter in Arise Television station, Obi accused the current administration of harassing its opponents. His words, “I’ve been privileged to have travelled with a number of high-profile people in the past in a private jet where they gave me a lift. I’ve not experienced what Atiku experienced. Recall that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar had yesterday lamented over the search of his private jet by security agents, when he came back from Dubai, accusing the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, of using its might to intimidate him.
His words, “I arrived 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.” But reacting on the issue, Presidency faulted the linkage of the president in the search and allegations of plots to implicate Atiku by planting illegal substances in the plane, asserting that President Buhari cannot descend so low as to send some persons to plant something in the aircraft of the Presidential candidate of PDP, just to implicate him. Similarly, the Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, in a statement, described Atiku’s allegation as an attempt to grab the headlines, insisting that the search was in order. His words, “This is a mischievous attempt to grab the headlines. Nigerians need to know that one of the resolutions of the Atiku team at their recently-concluded, opulently-held Dubai retreat was to embark on scaremongering. This is one of such.” But, faulting the positions of both the Presidency and Aviation Minister, Vice Presidential Candidate of PDP, Mr. Peter Obi averred that Atiku’s only crime was that he is the opposition candidate of APC. 2019: Umahi wants INEC, security agents to be neutral He enjoined politicians to embrace peace, noting that the nation would move forward when we show love to one another. His words, “What I am saying is that we have a country and what we need now is to be showing each other love and show the example to the younger ones that we are not divided, that we are together, that we want the country to work. It’s about the country. “All these divisions are not necessary for our future. But what we do is that we are dividing the country. But you see people coming to a programme chanting war songs. It shouldn’t be.”