Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar was accused of chasing journalists out of the Plateau State Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, when he visited on Monday to meet with the State leadership and delegates of the Party to discuss his 2023 Presidential ambition. He was also accused of barring journalists from delegate meeting in Benue State.

Atiku is the first aspirant to be accused of barring journalists from the PDP hall even though some of his co-contenders have been visiting the States in the past few weeks.

The former Vice President had arrived at the Plateau State PDP Secretariat at about 2:19 pm, but as he met journalists from the print and broadcast media waiting in the hall, he repeatedly ordered them out saying “I have nothing to do with journalists. I’m here to see delegates.”

The order prompted his aides and security details to go on a rampage, chasing out journalists, causing a stampede, and as a result, damaging gadgets including phones as well as a tripod and camera belonging to Channels TV.

The officials and delegates who could not help the fleeing journalists were disappointed at such behaviour from the former Vice President who had been in the State in 2019 and never displayed such anger at journalists who were there on official duty.

Plateau State has about 85 national delegates but with the public outburst, it is not yet known if they would want to support his aspiration.

Atiku Vows to Investigate

Meanwhile, the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has denied walking journalists out of his meeting with the Peoples Democratic Party delegates in Jos, Plateau State, vowing to investigate the allegations.

Atiku in a statement signed by his Aide on Youth and Support Groups, Aliyu Bin Abbas, described journalists as critical stakeholders in the nation that cannot be overlooked, while assuring that he would investigate the alleged barring of media practitioners from his visits to some North Central states.

Atiku who said he was saddened by the reports that some journalists who covered his visits to the North Central states of Benue and Plateau were not granted access to him by those at the venues of both visits, claimed he was not aware of the separate incidents, allegedly carried out by security operatives in both states.

He explained that security personnel of the presidential aspirant just brought it to his notice that some security personnel barred journalists in Makurdi from covering his visit to see stakeholders.

Atiku claimed he was not sure if the policeman was one of those attached to the Deputy Governor of Benue State or one drafted from the state Command for the visit

He said he had always been an advocate of press freedom and has promoted the media industry in Nigeria in many ways, including setting up media outfits, where thousands of journalists are gainfully employed.

However, time will tell if the former Vice President will make public the outcome of his investigation as many observers say Atiku Abubakar may be angry with journalists over the recent trending report on his deleted tweet and Facebook posts condemning the alleged brutal killing of a student of the College of Education Sokoto, Deborah Samuel, by Islamic fundamentalist.

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