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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The Eagle Square, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has become a melting pot for the 8th National Convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
From the flamboyant chieftains and leaders of the ruling party, members of the national leadership, the National Working Committee (NWC), state governors, Federal Executive Council (FEC) members, national and state legislators, delegates across the country, including former and serving appointive and elective officers, the venue was filled with party stakeholders.
In attendance include President Bola Tinubu, his Vice, Kashim Shettima, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and other National Assembly principal officers and members, as well as state governors led by the chairman of the APC Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and his Nigeria Governors’ Forum counterpart, Hope Uzodimma and Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq.
Although it was a colourful and attractive event, one ugly incident most of the participants experienced was the difficulty in gaining entrance into the venue, regardless of whether they were accredited or not.
Regrettably, those who were brutalised by overzealous security agencies, comprising the military, the police and other paramilitary agencies, suffered the drastic effects of canisters of teargas released carelessly.
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According to many participants who finally gained entrance, it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than to gain entry into the venue.
While some lost their personal belongings, including handbags, handsets, wristwatches and other valuables, many others sustained various degrees of injury while surviving a partial stampede.
Narrating his ordeal, a journalist with the Daily Times, Tom Okpe, said: “It was a terrible experience. If I knew or had the premonition that it would be as chaotic as this, I wouldn’t have bothered myself attempting to be part of the event.”
“It was so bad that I lost my eyeglasses and nearly my phone tab. The volume of Nigerians around the venue of the event are all pointers to signs of hunger in the land,” Okpe lamented, complaining that his situation was complicated by the failure of the organisers to provide seats for the journalists covering the event.
Meanwhile, it was a carnival of sorts as the participants appeared colourfully dressed in branded shorts of their aspirants in next year’s elections, in addition to the endless dancing and drumming by the apparently elated professional drummers.
