Shittu, Alhassan ‘denied entry’ into venue of chaotic APC chairmen inauguration

Aisha Alhassan, minister of women affairs, and Adebayo Shittu, minister of communication, were reportedly denied entry during the ceremony to inaugurate state chairmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The inauguration took place at the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja on Monday.

NAN reports that the ceremony was in disarray as chairmen that emerged from parallel congresses jostled for recognition.

Security operatives were said to have struggled to curtail the surging party members and their supporters.

According to NAN, despite efforts by the security details of Alhassan and Shittu to get them in, they were not able to enter the hall.

The situation was said to have degenerated into a shouting match and threats by supporters of the factions denied entrance which resulted in the security agents releasing a canister of tear gas to disperse the protesters.

Alhassan, whose faction was already in the hall, said she was not bothered that she was denied entrance into the hall, saying that such situations were normal in politics.

She said: “I was not disappointed at all that I was denied entry into the hall, because I was made to understand that the national working committee restricted the entrance into the hall to only the chairmen for security reasons.

“As a politician, I am not surprised over what happened.”

The factional chairman of the minister of communication was not allowed entrance into the hall while the faction loyal to the state governor, Abiola Ajimobi, was allowed in.

Defending the decision to deny the two ministers entrance, a secretariat staff who pleaded anonymity told NAN that they were not officially invited for the function.

He added that the ministers only came to ensure that their factional chairmen were among those inaugurated.