By TINA TIMOTHY

The abandoned South East and South South youth members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who were stranded after jogging from Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, to Lagos in support of the party’s 2023 Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, have managed to return to their various states after two fruitless weeks in Lagos.

The Coordinator, Hon. Samuel J. Adaga, while speaking to News Express, expressed appreciation to God for uniting them with their families without losing any of the delegates, despite abandonment and rejection by the party for which they risked their lives.

“We thank God for safe journey throughout the jogging that was started on the 6/10/2022 and we arrived Lagos on 11/10/2022, in support of Tinubu’s Presidential Ambition. Despite the abandonment and rejection, God has brought us back home to meet our loved ones and families – 25 members of my team, no life was lost,” Adaga said.

The APC faithful and his team had arrived Lagos, full of hopes on Tuesday evening, October 11, only to be ignored by the APC presidential flag bearer and his camp.

They had, almost a week after, on Monday, October 17, blocked the road leading to the premises of the Lagos State Governors Office in Alausa, Ikeja, to express their disappointment for being abandoned by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, whom they expected would receive them in the absence of Tinubu.

One of the disappointed Tinubu supporters had told News Express: “We are protesting because the Governor refused to receive us. We know that Asiwaju Tinubu is not in town, but if father no dey, pikin go dey.

“From information we gathered, Tinubu asked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu that he is hearing that some group of people are in front of the Government House because of him but Sanwo-Olu said he is not aware. The Governor’s refusal to receive us shows that he is not in support of his father to become the next president of Nigeria.”

News Express had earlier exclusively reported that the stranded Tinubu supporters were starving and some of them falling sick and lacking money with which to take care of themselves. Having ran out of money, they have been sleeping in the open outside the Lagos State Government House, Alausa, Ikeja, in the hope of being received by Governor Sanwo-Olu.

The men and women were cooking under a big tree outside the Government House premises and spreading their washed clothes on its branches.

Some of them were found with swollen legs as a result of their jogging from Yenegoa, with the expectation that Tinubu would receive them upon their arrival in the country’s former capital – a distance of 360 kilometres (224 miles).

News Express learnt that some of Tinubu’s aides had contacted the joggers’ Coordinator, Mr Samuel Adaga, and promised that Governor Sanwo-Olu would receive them. But nothing like that happened.

Adaga had lamented to News Express: “We are sleeping in an open place under a tree. We are starving, as we don’t have money to eat; the food we are eating is just by the grace of God.

“We don’t have money to treat those who got injured during the exercise. Many of them that have swollen legs, we can’t treat them – we only use robb on them but it’s not working.”

Asked what motivated them to embark on the long trek to Lagos, Adaga said: “We just love the man, Tinubu; that is why we took the risk.”

The youths, under the auspices of South-East/South-South Jogging for Tinubu Campaign Initiative, constituted a team of fitness enthusiasts to embark on the exercise.

The jogging was flagged off at the Bayelsa State Secretariat of APC by the State APC Chairman, Dr Dennis Otiotio, enjoying warm reception by APC leaderships at the corridors of the Yenagoa-Lagos route: Delta, Edo Ondo and Ogun states.

They arrived Nigeria’s economic capital a day ahead of schedule, with the Coordinator, Mr Samuel Adaga, telling the media that the expedition would terminate with a reception by Tinubu.

The 25-member team, among them, eight females, drew, at least, two representatives from each of the 11 states in the South-East and South-South, and executives of the group.

When asked if he and his team would still support Tinubu and the APC after risking their lives only to be abandoned to suffer, Adaga said he would consult with his supporters across the South East and South South before deciding on the next line of action.

“I’m still thinking of the next line of action to take. I will first inform all my supporters across the South East and South South, before taking a decision,” he said.

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