THE Nigeria Police say it did not seal off the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), but that operatives were at the place to maintain law and order.
“The deployment is a proactive move by the Force to maintain peace and ensure there is no breakdown of law and order at the Secretariat,” the police said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
Armed police officers had early Tuesday taken over the party’s National Secretariat located at Blantyre Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja over the leadership crisis rocking the party.
The police explained that the presence of its personnel at the Secretariat was not to seal-up the Complex as has been reported in some quarters but rather to prevent any untoward situation within and around the APC National Secretariat.
The statement stated that members of the APC as well as staff of the Secretariat “are therefore at liberty to conduct their legitimate businesses, in and around the Secretariat as always.”
It was gathered that Muhammad Adamu, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) had scheduled a meeting with some of the feuding members of the party for 1 pm.
This comes barely 24 hours that President Muhammadu Buhari met in a closed door meeting with some governors from the party on the lingering crisis.
Earlier on Sunday, Ahmad Lawan, the Senate President also met with the president on the same crisis.
It would be recalled that the party has been engulfed in leadership tussle since the suspension of Adams Oshiomhole by the Court of Appeal as its National Chairman.
While the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) named Abiola Ajimola, a former governor of Oyo State and Deputy National Chairman South West of the party, Victor Giadom, South South Deputy National Chairman of the party also lays claim to the seat.
The Appellate Court sitting in Abuja last week upheld the suspension of Oshiomhole.