Blantyre Street, Wuse 2, office secretariat of the ruling APC in Abuja, seems to be a new office for the Nigeria Police Force on Monday August 9th, as no fewer than 30 men of the security force gathered at the headquarters to forestall any breakdown of law and order.
Reacting to the situation, the National Secretary, APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, said the party’s leadership acted based on intelligence report that some hoodlums are planning attacks on the secretariat; hence, the need for the heavy presence of men in uniform guarding the premises.
The ruling party as we know, has been engulfed in leadership crisis since July 17, 2021, following the supreme court judgment that favoured Rotimi Akeredolu as the governor of Ondo state, and the legal concerns on the position of Governor Mai Mala Buni as the chairman of the APC caretaker committee.
Akpanudoedehe, who maintained that although Governor Mai Mala Buni, is not under any form of threat, but the leadership of the party cannot fold their hands and watch resentful individuals embarrass President Muhammadu Buhari and the party.
“APC cannot be embarrassed because this is a national government, therefore we have to take measures to forestall any happenings. We cannot underestimate security report, we cannot play it down. We have a security report, we can’t take laws into our hands, you can’t expect us to call thugs to defend the national secretariat. The right thing to do is to inform the police and the DSS”.
The National Secretary also stressed that to take measures against the prevalence of the delta variant of Covid 19 ravaging the country, no individual will be allowed into the party’s secretariat without face masks.
“… Another measure we want to take is that if you don’t have your face mask, you will not be able to enter the national Secretariat… because of the delta variant. He added, “We are going to also start testing people now but that does not mean that the virus has taken over the Secretariat… it is just a measure to protect lives.
Although, people are going about their lawful duties, the heavy presence of security operatives in the Wuse 2 area is a thing of concern to everyone as the ever busy secretariat is like a ghost yard due to the presence of security personnel.