APC Presidential Primaries: Police fires tear-gas on journalists at venue

Today, the APC presidential primaries entered the second day. With more than thirteen presidential aspirants and 2,340 accredited delegates for the election, the party primary is set to attract a huge crowd of chanters, press, and security operatives.

Crowd control is always a challenge at All Progressive Congress (APC) national conventions and the ongoing primary is not an exemption.

Police officers today attacked accredited journalists for the coverage of the APC presidential primary going down at Eagle Square Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital territory.

The accredited journalists had gathered at the entrance of the venue but instead of policemen men letting them in, they fired tear gas at the journalists even though they had their tags on.

This incident prompted the attention of the APC national publicity secretary Felix Morka who arrived to address the situation.

This is one of the many police manhandling journalists have faced in Nigeria while discharging their duties, without punishment meted out to the offending officers.

The All Progressive Congress through Mr. Morka has apologized to the affected journalists noting that as soon as he was notified of the incident, he rushed down to the scene and helped the journalists to enter the venue.

The ruling All Progressive Congress has today and tomorrow (Wednesday) to elect or select its presidential flag bearer ahead of the 2023 general elections.

From all indications, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Rotimi Amaechi, and Prof. Yemi Osibanjo stand out as the leading contenders for the presidential ticket.