The police sealed Wadata Plaza, the national secretariat of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on Wednesday, in what many say is a sign of a party in deeper crisis.
The officers, positioned around the building, cordoned off the premises with iron barbed wire, blocking party officials and visitors from entering.
The development follows Tuesday’s violent confrontation between the faction loyal to Nyesom Wike and Samuel Anyanwu, and the camp led by Tanimu Turaki, the newly elected national chairman backed by Governors Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State.
Both factions had scheduled meetings of their respective National Working Committees (NWC) at the secretariat.
The Wike group later announced the suspension of Governors Bala Mohammed, Dauda Lawal and Seyi Makinde of Bauchi, Zamfara and Oyo states respectively, as well as elder statesman Bode George, among others.
It took the combined efforts of security operatives to prevent a bloodbath, as both factions reportedly hired fierce-looking political thugs to secure entry and control of the secretariat.
The Turaki-led National Working Committee (NWC) eventually gained access and rescheduled its meeting for Wednesday.
BusinessDay gathered that security operatives later returned to the plaza and sealed the premises.
Read also: PDP: Wike faction expels Makinde, Bala Mohammed, Bode George, others
Checks by BusinessDay indicate that the action was taken to restore order and keep the warring factions away from the party offices.
Ini Ememobong, national publicity secretary of the PDP, told journalists that party leaders were attacked. “Without any provocation, they fired tear-gas canisters at the governors, NWC members, party leaders and peaceful supporters,” he said.
“This reckless action triggered a stampede and resulted in multiple injuries.
“They fired over 200 canisters at unarmed and harmless citizens who had gathered to witness a lawful party meeting.”
He, however, noted that “despite these acts of aggression, party supporters and Nigerians present, stayed firm and courageous, insisting that the right leadership of the party must be allowed to run the party without external influence.”
He noted, “In the end, they prevailed and the NWC members had access to the National Secretariat,” adding that the struggle transcends the PDP. “It is about the survival of electoral democracy in Nigeria, a system that depends fundamentally on the existence of a vibrant and independent opposition.”
He explained that the attack on the opposition under the authority of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu constitutes a direct threat to the survival of our democracy.
“When opposition is suppressed, the core democratic principle of institutionalised uncertainty disappears, reducing elections to mere uneventful events with predetermined outcomes.”
