10th November, 2022
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the attack on the convoy of its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in Borno State.
Hoodlums had, on Wednesday, ambushed Atiku’s motorcade in Maiduguri, the state capital, injuring scores of his supporters.
His convoy was ambushed while he was leaving the palace of the Shehu of Borno for Ramat Square, the site of the presidential event.
In a statement issued by PDP spokesman, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP called on the Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, to “arrest this constant incidence of violence being unleashed.”
Ologunagba accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of masterminding the attack by funding the armed thugs.
The statement partly read “The attack on the PDP Presidential campaign train as it made its way into Maiduguri city amidst thunderous cheers by the people further confirms APC’s frustration, bitter envy, and disconcertedness over the overwhelming popularity of the PDP and our Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar in Borno State, the North-East Zone and across the nation; for which the APC has resorted to violence.
“Our Party has information about how agents of certain APC leaders mobilized the thugs with the aim to escalate violence in Maiduguri and prevent the PDP from holding its Presidential Campaign Rally in the State.
“Nigerians witnessed with horror how hundreds of APC’s armed thugs stationed at major roundabouts and intersections in the city of Maiduguri unleashed violence on the PDP Presidential Campaign convoy and innocent citizens going about their lawful activities in a gruesome attack that left over 70 persons gravely injured and hospitalized.
“This attack is consistent with APC’s habitual resort to violence in the face of rejection by the people, as also witnessed in the attack on the PDP’s Presidential Campaign Rally in Kaduna State on October 17, 2022.
“APC’s barbaric and anti-social behavior is contrary to the Peace Accord it signed on September 28, 2022, and constitutes a clear and present danger to democracy, our electoral process, and the 2023 general elections.
“It is clear that the APC has since become confused, frenetic, and chaotic following the daily mass exodus of its key members into the PDP across the nooks and crannies of the State as witnessed at the PDP Presidential Campaign Rally today in Maiduguri in support of Atiku Abubakar and in a clear rejection of the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his running mate, Kashim Shettima.”