Another round of crises and disturbances reared its ugly head today the 30th of September in Enugu as agents of the State government as well as their moles operating within the All Progressives Congress (APC), succeeded in the disorganization of the rescheduled governorship primaries ordered by the NEC of the party recently.
In a show of brazen force, the Commissioner of Police in Enugu CP Dan Mallam and his subordinates, at the Mini Stadium complex of UNEC Enugu venue of the APC convention, harassed, intimidated and tear-gassed delegates and aspirants, including the front-line contender, George Ogara Tabugbo (GOT) and threatened to arrest him on trumped up charges without fact. Citing ‘orders from above’ the CP in an apparent show of disregard to democratic norms, insisted on stopping a legitimate exercise of the APC.
When confronted by delegates and other members of the APC at the venue, CP Dan Mallam threatened to arrest everybody including the governorship aspirant. It took the forceful intervention of the over 100,000 party delegates for the CP to shelve his planned ‘arrest’ of Barrister Ogara, but not after his officers treated everyone with a dose of tear gas.
Reacting to the actions of the police, Barrister George Ogara strongly condemned the situation whereby supposed members of APC are being used by the incumbent PDP led government of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, to dis-stabilize the party over pecuniary gains.
It can be recalled that some contestants under the APC platform were refused clearance by the screening committee of the APC just last week when it was discovered that their forms were allegedly procured with funds from Enugu State government coffers.
According to Barrister Ogara, “Sending police to disrupt our convention is immoral and a total disregard for democratic tenets and rule of law. What is the business of the CP in the activities of APC in Enugu State? Who gave him the order to come and disrupt it? I want to use this opportunity to call on the Inspector General of Police to immediately call CP Dan Mallam to order and henceforth warn him to desist from engaging in partisanship”, he said.
As it stands, the proposed primaries in Enugu State is inconclusive and the national leadership informed of the situation by the State exco led by Mr. Okey Ogbodo. This will however be decided by the national exco on a future date.