Former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar yesterday flayed Sunday night’s disruption of the G- 7 Governors meeting in Abuja by a team of policemen led by the DPO of Asokoro police station, CSP Nnanna Ama.
Atiku, who voiced his condemnation when the Bishop and Eminent Clerics Forum of Nigeria, Niger Delta Chapter, visited him in Abuja, said the action of the police was despicable.
The former vice president, who also spoke on the proposed National Dialogue, noted that though he was not against it, however, raised concerns that it may clash with the 2015 electioneering campaigns.
While decrying the continued harassment and intimidation of the G-7 governors and members of the New Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku said: “I am opposed to what the government has done. I have said it before there is fundamental freedom of association under our constitution and democratic dispensation.
“It is totally wrong. I don’t support what the government has done. And I don’t support the government using the police to disrupt peaceful meetings, even meetings in homes.”
On the proposed national dialogue, Atiku said the present administration lacked the capacity to handle both the 2015 electioneering campaigns and the conference.
“I don’t object to it. But my only problem is that it is timed in such a way that the conference is likely to overlap with electioneering campaign and I don’t see this government having the capacity to handle both events at the same time”, he said.
The former vice president said the visit of the clerics was part of consultations on how to achieve unity, peace and stability in the country.
-The Nation
