THE Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has shifted its meeting to the Yar’Adua Centre after police laid siege on the party’s headquarters in Abuja.
The party accused the FCT Police Command of deploying gun-wielding officers to take over its secretariat.
The party also accused the police of harassing its BoT members who came for the meeting.
“The Meeting of the Board of Trustees (BoT) Meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), earlier scheduled to hold by 10 am at the Party’s National Secretariat in Abuja has been moved to Yar’Adua Centre, Central Business District, Abuja,” the PDP stated on its official handle on X.
The ICIR reporter at the PDP headquarters observed a massive deployment of armed police officers and about five operatives of the State Security Service (SSS) within and around the premises.
The security officers had stopped some members of the party’s BoT from gaining entrance into the premises.
Following the blockade, the BoT members later left the party’s secretariat amid tension over the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, also scheduled for today on the premises.
Meanwhile, the FCT Police Command has said that policemen were drafted to the party’s headquarters to maintain law and order and not fir personal agenda.
The FCT police, in a statement by its spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, said officers were only deployed to the venue to maintain law and order and ensure public safety in line with their constitutional mandate.
She said at no time was the secretariat sealed off by the police.
The PDP has been embroiled in controversy that has lingered since the party lost the 2023 general election.
The crisis has resulted in frequent postponement of the party’s NEC meeting.
The NEC meeting was postponed severally times recently, prompting the party’s leadership to meet with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
There have also been problems over the party’s substantive national secretary.
The recent problem started when the Acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagun, announced the postponement of the NEC meeting planned for today, but the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP insisted that the meeting would proceed as scheduled.
A reporter with the ICIR
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