The police averted a major crisis at the Peoples Democratic Party’s state secretariat in Ekiti State on Thursday.
Trouble began when a former secretary of the party in the state, Dr Tope Aluko, invaded the secretariat located on Ajilosun Road, Ado Ekiti, with some aggrieved members.
They chased officials and workers out of the office and locked it up.
But the police quickly moved in to save the situation by securing the office.
Aluko alleged that some State Working Committee members were sharing millions of naira belonging to the party.
He explained that some concerned members of the party in the state decided to lock up the office in order to save the party from going into extinction and to prepare the party for the 2019 general elections.
“We already have some aggrieved members following the imposition in the last primaries of the party and we are worried because we are concerned stakeholders.
“We are here today to lock up the party secretariat, not because of anything, but because of some nefarious and fraudulent activities among our members. After the exit of our leader, Dr Ayodele Fayose, we found out that the National Working Committee has not been responsive to the issues on the ground.
“We are carrying out this action today after consultation with some leaders of the party and they gave us the mandate to go ahead until there are further directives of the party’s leadership,” Aluko stated.
The state chairman, Gboyega Oguntuase, and the Publicity Secretary, Jackson Adebayo, said police were brought in to secure lives and property.
Oguntuase alleged that the invasion did not come as a surprise because Aluko had been issuing out threats of invasion.
Adebayo added, “As far as I’m concerned, Tope Aluko is an expelled member of our party and he is not qualified to query, question, or throw a challenge on how we run our party in Ekiti.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Caleb Ikechukwu, said he had not been briefed but added that the police would always move in to forestall breakdown of law and order without invitation.
However, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement made available to our correspondent in Ado Ekiti, condemned in strong terms, the invasion of the secretariat.
The party vowed to investigate the invasion with a view to exposing and sanctioning anyone found to be involved directly or indirectly in the disruption of the smooth running of its activities in Ekiti.
The National Working Committee of the party reiterated its confidence in the Oguntuase-led executive and urged members in the state to “avoid anyone fannin embers of discord in their fold.”
The party also called on the police to assist it in fishing out and arresting the hoodlums that invaded the secretariat as well as securing the premises against further invasion.
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