THERE was a face-off between a group of All Progressives Congress (APC) youths and security operatives at the party’s Abuja National Secretariat on Wednesday.
The youths had arrived the secretariat to protest an alleged plot to hijack the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) election set to hold today to usher in new executive members.
A former aspirant, Segun Dada, was said to have led the protest to inform the National Working Committee (NWC) about the plan of suspected members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to hijack Thursday’s election.
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Dada had stepped down for the incumbent APC National Youth Leader, Dayo Isreal.
Isreal reportedly directed Dada to approach the APC NWC over the alleged plot.
However, the APC youths were prevented from entering the secretariat by security guards stationed at the gates of the office complex.
The development led to a stampede which saw some of the youths making attempts to force their way in.
The security operatives later dispersed the youths by firing teargas canisters.
A staff of the secretariat told the Punch that the APC national chairman Abdullahi Adamu had directed the security details to stop the aggrieved NANS members from coming inside the office complex.
The source said they wanted to disrupt the party’s NWC’s meeting which was in progress at the time.
He also said that the Chief Security Officer of the party was molested by the protesting youths.
The source was quoted as saying, “Dada’s attempt and desperation to force his way with his delegation resulted in the police using teargas on him and others, which infuriated them, leading to the situation becoming rowdy.
“The surprising thing is that Dada is not a stranger at the secretariat because he worked for some years here. But, he was not however diplomatic in handling the situation otherwise it would not have degenerated to the extent of using several canisters of teargas to disperse them.
“Yes, Dada was on genuine mission to brief the leadership on how PDP elements in APC have hijacked the election, as directed by the youth leader.
“But what we cannot understand was why he came with those hefty boys that fought the security agents. It was bad that the Chief Security Officer of the party was molested by those boys that came with Dada.”
