Thugs clash with aggrieved Atiku supporters

A media briefing, organised by supporters of the PDP presidential candidate under the aegis of Aggrieved Atiku Support Groups (AASG), was disrupted in Abuja on Monday.

The organisers of the briefing clashed with the political thugs believed to have been sent by those opposing their full integration into the Atiku Campaign Office.

The thugs successfully hijacked the banners of the aggrieved campaign groups and went away with it.

The AASG Chairman, Osaratin Godspower, who briefed journalists after the encounter at the same venue located at Wuse 2 area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, said the press conference was convened to intimate the world with the happenings in the Atiku Campaign Office.

Godspower, who voiced dissatisfaction that they were being described as ‘mere volunteers’ in the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organization (APCO), said the era when some persons would work and others would eat had gone.

He said, “Let it be on record that it is disparaging and the highest level of deprecatory language of such officials to disdainfully refer to Atiku support groups, who have worked for him tirelessly; who have showed him unparalleled support and solidarity; who purchased the PDP Presidential aspiration form for him; who have risked their lives traversing through our accident pruned roads from Yola through Abuja to Port Harcourt; who have defied the plot of PDP cabals and drummed support for Atiku across the length and breadth of Nigeria until he graciously defeated twelve other presidential aspirants and now the so-called officials in APCO have the effrontery to refer to us as mere volunteers.

“This disparaging language used to address these men and women of proven integrity has the tendency of affecting negatively the effective mobilization of voters for PDP towards the 2019 general elections. This unguided language is uncalled for as it can water down the zeal and moral of the teaming supporters of Atiku.”

They sought for deserved recognition having worked for the Turakin Adamawa.

The aggrieved groups, therefore, demanded that there should be a meeting/interactive session with Atiku Abubakar himself to address the aforementioned shortcomings, adding that a letter of recognition be given to all support groups.

They also requested “That the Atiku aggrieved support groups be integrated into Atiku Campaign Organization and we must be saddled with responsibility to function.

“That an independent office should be created to accommodate all the support groups and that necessary incentives should be accorded to all the support groups that over time have been neglected.”