Security search of my private jet premiditated, Atiku says

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, on Monday said the Sunday’s search of his private aircraft on his return to Abuja from Dubai, was premeditated.

Atiku, who said he had never been searched before now by security agents at the airport even though he frequently flies in and out of the country, contended that the action had been signaled by the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in an earlier statement demanding for the search.

A statement issued by his presidential campaign organization in Abuja, recalled that on November 5, 2018, the APC released an official statement accusing the former Vice President of having strategy meetings for the purpose of moving “illicit cash” into Nigeria and the party asked the security services to investigate him and his plane.

The statement quoted the APC as saying at the time: ‘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. Again, relevant agencies must check suspicious movement of cash both locally and internationally by politically exposed persons under the guise of a “Dubai meeting” or any clandestine meeting.’

The Atiku Campaign Organization asserted that the ruling party thereafter asked the security services to search aircrafts belonging to members of the PDP.

According to the organization, the APC statement “evinced an obvious premeditated intention by the APC and its Federal Government to deliberately embarrass the former Vice President by invading his plane with security personnel and possibly to set him up for the crimes they had already officially accused him of in their statement.”

It added: “The official denial by the All Progressives Congress and the Presidency of any hand in the ordeal of the former Vice President is put to lie when you examine their statement of last week which was clearly what was implemented against the former Vice President. It also shows that both parties have no credibility and will do or say anything to further their interests.”

The campaign organization also rubbished as an afterthought, the statement by the Minister of State, Hadi Sirika, in which he said the search on Atiku was a routine exercise, saying that the minister’s argument does not hold water “for the simple reason that the PDP Presidential candidate has been flying in and out of Nigeria without ever receiving such a treatment until the APC released their statement.”

It added: “This event raises grave concerns about using government services for purely political purposes and what this portends for the conduct of free and fair elections in February 2019, and shows as hollow President Buhari’s promise to superintendent over credible polls.

“The Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation wishes to remind Nigerians and the international community that by Nigeria’s constitution, only the President can order the deployment of military and paramilitary personnel as Commander-in-Chief.

“That, combined with the statement released last week is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that what happened to Atiku Abubakar was not a routine exercise, but a deliberate attempt to intimidate him by those who have seen the political handwriting on the wall.”

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