Police officers armed with weapons have taken control of the All Progressive Congress secretariat in Makurdi, the capital city of Benue State.
The particular party office is owned by the Austin Agada-led APC Working Committee and is situated along JS Tarka Way opposite the Railway Market in Makurdi.
There are actually two separate party secretariats within the city.
The other one is managed by Benjamin Omakolo’s group and is positioned along Kashim Ibrahim Way.
Daniel Ihomun, the Publicity Secretary of the Agada faction, expressed his belief that the closure of their office might be linked to the scheduled inauguration of the zoning committee members for the upcoming local government election.
As Ihomun stated, “Our plan was to inaugurate the zoning committee members for the upcoming local government election today at our office, but the authorities decided to send in police officers and their supporters to seal off the premise.”
Our reporter discovered that law enforcement officers and an Armoured Personnel Vehicle were present at the Agada-led office as early as 6 am on Friday.
Attempts to reach out to the state Police Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene, in order to understand the rationale behind shutting down the party secretariat were unsuccessful, as her phone was unanswered at the time of reporting.
The Agada-led faction had established a zoning committee of 21 individuals representing the three senatorial districts of the state, and their inauguration was set for Friday.
Responding swiftly, the Omakolo-led team, through its Publicity Secretary, Terseer Agber, issued a statement urging all party members and the public to ignore the zoning committee formed by the Agada-led group.