Angry youths barricade National Secretariat, chase out staff
Angry youth barricaded the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja yesterday and chased away staff and security operatives on duty.
The protesters demanded the resignation of the National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, over allegations of imposition of candidates in the rescheduled Senatorial and House of Representatives primaries.
The irate youth stormed the premises of the secretariat, wielding placards with inscriptions such as: ‘Oshiomhole Steer Clear of FCT Primary’; We Want Indirect Primary; ‘Leadership is Not Activism’, Oshiomhole’, among others.
The protesters barricaded the Blantyre Street leading to the secretariat and took over the control of the gate, after they overwhelmed the security operatives manning the gate.
The mob did not spare the billboard in front of the building, which bore the photographs of the National Chairman and President Muhammadu Buhari, as they ripped it to shreds.
According to spokesman, Usman Mohammed Karshi, the group was out to protest injustice and imposition.
His words: “We are here to protest injustice; we are here to protest imposition. We are here to sound it loud and clear that we are solidly in support of President Muhammadu Buhari come 2019. We are here to say it to all who have ears that in FCT; results will not be written. We are here to state it loud and clear that FCT APC is going on with indirect primary. We are here to make it clear to Oshiomhole that we are comrades and that is why we voted for him as chairman. So, we are appealing to his sense of reason. He should be reasonable and give us what we want. FCT APC rejects direct primary in FCT.”
It took the intervention of FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Bala Ciroma, who appealed to the crowd before they dispersed.