Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has recalled how attendees of a rally organised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) once deserted the venue because they were only paid to appear for two hours.

The former Vice President revealed this while sharing anecdotes on crowd size in Nigeria's political terrain.

Atiku, who flew the PDP flag in the 2023 presidential election, recalled the incident while responding to remarks from Rotimi Amaechi, a former Minister of Transportation, during a recent event in Abuja.

The conference, organised by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, featured several Nigerian political heavyweights who shared their views on strengthening democracy.

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Speaking about the transactional nature of some political rallies, Amaechi shared a story of an All Progressives Congress (APC) march at the Eagle Square in Abuja before the 2015 election.

He recounted that women who should have been campaigning for the then APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, showed up in ‘Jonathan for President’ attire instead.

“An example is when we were pursuing… APC was registered, and I was scared that they may rig us out.

“So, I got the party to agree that we would carry out a demonstration. We agreed that we’d carry out the demonstration. We assembled at that parade ground, Eagle Square.

“We released some money to go and bring women and all that. I walked in. I normally show up earlier at these events to know what’s going on before others arrive. I saw the women gathered. Guess what they were wearing? ‘Jonathan for president,’” Amaechi narrated.

Atiku shares a similar experience

Buttressing Amaechi's comments, Atiku shared a personal experience on the dynamics of crowd mobilisation and motivation for rally attendees.

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“Let me intervene here… as borrowed from Rivers,” the former Vice President said, eliciting laughter from the audience.

“When Odili was in office as governor of Rivers, we went on a rally. The entire stadium was filled to capacity.

“But before we could finish the rally, everybody had left. We were left alone. Then I asked what happened. He said they were paid for only two hours!”

Peter Odili is a two-term former Rivers Governor who held sway in the oil-rich state from 1999 to 2007.