Protesters who were brought to the National Secretariat of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to protest the party’s Muslim-Muslim ticket were abandoned under heavy rain at the Secretariat in Abuja.
On Tuesday the hirelings were brought in buses to the Buhari House where APC is headquartered to protest by a Chieftain of the APC, but were helplessly left outside the gate and while rain got started, the middleman who brought them disappeared into tin air.
A middle aged woman. who spoke to journalists about their ordeal said they were hired to come and protest for N3,000 but haven’t been settled and the go-between men were nowhere to be seen.
According to her, they came in three Luxurious buses on Tuesday morning to protest against alleged plan by the APC to fly a Muslim-Muslim ticket ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
The protest was at the backdrop of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s explanation that the law has no provision for “placeholder”, stating that the electoral umpire would continue to recognise names of running mates submitted to it until the withdrawal is done in line with the Electoral Act as amended.
APC’s flagbearer, Ahmed Bola Tinubu has submitted the name of Alhaji Kabir Masari from Katsina State as his running mate.
The protesters were angrily shouting against an APC Chieftain for mobilising for a protest without settling them, saying that the middlemen promised to give out the sum of N3,000 each to protesters.
As it was raining, our correspondent sighted some protesters taking cover under mango tree, while some rushed to the nearby ECWA Church for shelter.
Other young protesters were seen threatening to stage another protest against their primary mission at the APC national headquarters.
The older woman who spoke with newsmen under condition of anonymity said: “They brought us from different places from the outskirts of Abuja.
“I am from Dei-Dei, some are from Suleija while some from Maraba. We were told that we will get three thousand each after the protest but since we finished nobody is even talking to us and the bus that brought us has left”.
