A former Vice President and Presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar, has apologised to journalists in Plateau State over the assault on them by security agents.
The PUNCH had reported that some journalists were assaulted during Atiku’s visitation to the PDP secretariat in Jos Monday.
The former Vice President who arrived at the PDP Secretariat at about 2:19 pm in connection with his presidential ambition had ordered journalists out of the secretariat, saying, “I have nothing to do with journalists. I’m here to see delegates.”
The order by the PDP presidential aspirant was said to have led gun-wielding security details to attack reporters, causing a stampede, and damaging the tripod and camera of the Channels Television crew.
In a statement on Tuesday, Atiku apologised for the incident, saying he could not have directed that the media be shut out of the event.
The Leader of the Technical Committee of Atiku Abubakar 2023 Presidential Aspiration, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, who signed the statement on behalf of his principal denied the report by a section of the media that the press was prevented from covering the former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar’s consultations held on Monday in Jos with delegates of the Plateau State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Dokpesi explained that what occurred was that on arrival at the Plateau state PDP secretariat in Jos where the former Vice President was to meet with delegates as part of his consultation ahead of the May 28 PDP National convention, it was obvious that journalists were already in the hall in their numbers and that he wanted to meet with delegates separately before speaking with them.
He said the presidential aspirant only pleaded that the media excuse the meeting, and return for interviews after the consultation and apologised over the manner the security operatives handled the situation.
The technical committee leader appealed to journalists not to misinterpret the intention of the former Vice President, saying the media has always been part of his agenda.
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