Police seal off APC national secretariat as crisis festers

The police have sealed off the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja.

Officers who said they were acting on the orders from above stormed the party headquarters on Tuesday afternoon and directed staff and journalists who were already in the building out.

A few journalists were later allowed in under the condition that they would not to conduct any interview inside the party secretariat.

“The instruction we received was not to allow anybody in, but we are working together that is why we are here,” a police officer told reporters.

“There should not be interview here for now. Source your story quietly and leave.”
The development follows the disagreement between members of the national working committee (NWC) of the party.

The party’s leadership crisis took a new turn after an appeal court in Abuja upheld the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole as national chairman of the APC.

Abiola Ajimobi, former governor of Oyo state, had been named acting chairman of the APC but Victor Giadom, deputy national scribe of the party, kicked against it, declaring himself the acting national chairman.

He subsequently nullified the disqualification of Godwin Obaseki, governor of Edo, from the party’s governorship primary.

The panel on Edo election had screened out Obaseki for allegedly presenting defective certificates.

But NWC members loyal to the former Oyo governor appointed Hillard Eta, APC vice-chairman south-south, as acting chairman “due to Ajimobi’s unavoidable absence.”

Subsequently, Eta named Worgu Boms as replacement of Giadom at NWC, saying the national secretary resigned to contest the 2019 poll.

President Muhammadu Buhari has held meetings with some governors and Senate President Ahmad Lawan as part of measures to resolve the crisis.

A source told TheCable that Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police (IGP), will hold a meeting with party members over the crisis.