DSS searched my plane to intimidate me – Atiku

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar said yesterday that his private jet was searched by operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) immediately after returning from Dubai.

The former vice president did not elaborate but said the search was meant to intimidate him. The DSS did not comment on the former vice president’s claim.

“I arrived to Abuja this morning to a search by agents of the state, aimed at intimidating me and my staff. I am committed to building a Nigeria where no citizen is intimidated by agents of state who are paid to protect them,” Atiku posted on his twitter handle (@atiku).

Daily Trust reports that Atiku flew to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) not long after emerging as the candidate of the opposition PDP.

Meanwhile, the PDP has condemned in strong terms what it called the unleashing of a special security squad of army, police and paramilitary agents to physically harass its presidential candidate.

The party in a statement last night by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, said it was shocking when the “deadly squad, in a gestapo style attack, and acting on orders from above” rushed Atiku after landing the Abuja airport and attempted to physically manhandle him before “invading his aircraft with dangerous weapons to conduct a violent search.”

The party said “the APC and the Buhari Presidency to know that power belongs to God and that the time has come for Nigerians to choose a new President, for which they have collectively rallied around Atiku Abubakar and that their resort to violence, smear campaign, character assassination and rigging will not change this resolve.”