Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) in the early hours of Sunday ransacked the private jet of the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar.
The former vice president, who had been in Dubai, United Arab Emirates since his election as the candidate of the PDP for the 2019 election, returned to the country at about 1am through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
Abubakar, who landed at about 1am, was held aboard the plane by the DSS operatives for about 30 minutes, according to The Eagle Online.
A source said, “We do not know what they expected to find.
“But our suspicion is that they expected to find hard currencies on the plane as the opposition All Progressives Congress and supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari have been insinuating that he went to bring in money to prosecute the election.
“He was kept on the aircraft while it was searched.
“But in the end, nothing was found and he was allowed to alight and leave the airport.”
Sources close to Abubakar stated that the former vice president was indeed not expected in the country until Monday.
As such his arrival caught many unawares.
It was gathered that Abubakar has since started receiving visitors, especially top chieftains of the Atiku Presidential Campaign Organisation, PDP Presidential Campaign Council and PDP.
He is due to unveil his Policy Document on November 18, 2018.
Meanwhile, the Aviation Minister has explained the decision of airport officials to search the travel bag of Abubakar.
Abubakar, who arrived Nigeria yesterday on Twitter stated that he was searched by airport officials.
“I arrived to Abuja this morning to a search by agents of the state, aimed at intimidating me and my staff,” Abubakar said on his Twitter handle shortly before 4:00 p.m. Sunday.
“I am committed to building a Nigeria where no citizen is intimidated by agents of state who are paid to protect them.”
However, in his reaction, the aviation minister, Hadi Sirika, described Abubakar’s claim as mischievous attempt to grab the headlines.
“While it is true that the Task Force on Currency at the airport did the routine action of checking the former Vice President’s travel bag, he was accorded full respect as a senior citizen,” Sirika wrote in a statement sent to Premium Times.
Part of the statement reads; “This is a mischievous attempt to grab the headlines. Nigerians need to know that one of the resolutions of the Atiku team at their recently-concluded, opulently-held Dubai retreat was to embark on scaremongering. This is one of such.
For the records, all incoming passengers on international flights go through customs, immigration, health and security screening.
Where the aircraft is using the private, charter wing, as the PDP Candidate did, such arrivals are met by a team of the immigration, customs and other security agencies. They go to the arriving aircraft as a team. The airport authorities confirm that this is a routine process, applying to all international arrivals, including the minister unless the passenger is the President of Nigeria. The President, the Vice President and passengers aboard planes on the Presidential air fleet use the Presidential wing of the airport.
“By standard procedure, all aircraft on international arrivals must first of all park at the international wing of the aircraft. They can move to the domestic terminal only upon the completion of the arrival processes.”
