The Publicity Secretary elected at the Ibadan convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ini Ememobong Essien, has called on President Bola Tinubu to rein in the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike over the clashes that erupted between the rival factions of the party on Tuesday.
This was as he faulted the police for dispersing PDP officials and journalists at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja.
Essien stated this to reporters after officers fired tear gas to disperse party members and journalists gathered at the secretariat.
According to him, several PDP governors were among those affected, adding that the police had earlier been briefed on the party’s concerns during a meeting between the national chairman and the Commissioner of Police on Monday.
He said that security operatives allowed access to individuals already expelled from the party while preventing other members, including governors and the national chairman, from entering the premises.
“You have been tear-gassed. All of us know the truth. Today, some governors have been tear-gassed, for what reason? Yesterday, the chairman of our party was in a meeting with the Commissioner of Police, and we clearly stated the issues. But this morning, they aided and abetted the entry of people who had been expelled from the party and then prevented the original owners of the party from coming in
“The true situation is that the police came in. We went in and met people who, immediately they saw that the owners of the party had come, excused themselves. The press was addressed by the national chairman, and we sat there.
“While we were about to leave and we had postponed the meeting we were supposed to hold on the basis of security someone was escorted in. The same people who stopped us from coming in, who stopped two governors and the national chairman from coming in, were escorting someone. And so we remained here,” he said.