Protesters sack PDP national secretariat, officials

The protesters who came with weapons, confronted the security men at the gate and ordered them to vacate their duty post. They also ordered men of the Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) out of the secretariat and barricaded the entrance thereby disallowing officials entry.Police who were later deployed to the scene […]

The protesters who came with weapons, confronted the security men at the gate and ordered them to vacate their duty post.
They also ordered men of the Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) out of the secretariat and barricaded the entrance thereby disallowing officials entry.
Police who were later deployed to the scene were forced to a distance helplessly watching the developments.
The protesters who came with a coffin chanting that they would bury former minister of state for education, Nyesom Wike, turned the secretariat into a rendezvous consuming alcoholic drinks, breaking bottles and smoking after erecting canopies at all the entry points.
PDP national women leader, Ambassador Kema Chikwe who is also a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) was nearly manhandled but for the quick intervention of some security operatives.
The protesters under the umbrella of Coalition of Rivers State PDP House of Assembly and National Assembly Aspirants in a petition dated December 3, 2014, signed by 31 aggrieved members and addressed to President Goodluck Jonathan also insisted that the National Working Committee must issue a clearance certificate to all aspirants.
“We have consulted with our numerous supporters that form the core of the PDP support in Rivers State and also taking into cognisance the development in our frontline rival political party, we want the national leadership of the party to cancel or disregard the purported House of Assembly primaries of 29th November, 2014, without clearing other aspirants for a free and fair contest,” they said.
The petition also demanded that the party “cancel or disregard the purported delegate list compiled by Nyeson Wike, Uche Secondus and the two-man PDP Rivers State Exco of Obuah and Walter in conjunction with their civil servant cronies of Dr Yakubu Gambo and Co.
“Dissolve the two-man Felix Obuah and Ibibia Walter PDP Rivers State Exco and set up an unbiased and balanced Exco at the state, LGA and ward levels for the purposes of proper and massive registration of members and subsequent election of the three-man delegates for the primaries,” they said.  
The protesters also demanded the removal of PDP deputy national chairman, Uche Secondus, from office for what they termed “brazen corruption and causing confusion and chaos in the Rivers State chapter of the party.”
National Vice Chairman of the party in the South-South, Cairo Ojougbo however said: “I was called here because of my position in the party. I have spoken with them and they gave me 24 hours to make further consultations and come to address them because the party must function, this is not the period to disrupt the activities of the party.”
Ojougbo assured that the party would address the issue through dialogue as the violent protesters alleged that Wike and Secondus are stumbling blocks to the aspirations of some contestants in the state.
However, at about 5:09pm, heavily armed policemen dispersed the protesters, arresting 18 in the process.
Police Public Relations Officer, FCT Command, Peter Okechukwu, told newsmen at the scene that the police did not use force on them but added that they infringed on other people’s rights through their actions.