Skip to main content

Hoodlums Take Over Ondo State APC Secretariat, Chase Away Members With Sticks And Charms

Hoodlums on Wednesday took over the Ondo State Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akure amidst a crisis rocking the party over the imposition of a gubernatorial candidate and the doctoring of the delegates list.

Hoodlums on Wednesday took over the Ondo State Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akure amidst a crisis rocking the party over the imposition of a gubernatorial candidate and the doctoring of the delegates list.

Eyewitnesses told SaharaReporters that the hoodlums beat up the party members who had besieged the Secretariat in the early hours of the day for conducting normal political business.

"They broke bottles at the front of my shop and injured some party members who refused to leave the front of the party's secretariat.

"It was a horrible scene and everybody had to run for their dear lives because everywhere was tense," one of the witnesses said.

These hoodlums were suspected to be sponsored by the embattled State Chairman of the opposition party, Mr. Isaacs Kekemeke, our correspondent learned.

It was gathered that the hoodlums are members of a factional group of the Ondo State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) working for Mr. Kekemeke.

A SaharaReporters correspondent observed that the hoodlums who were mainly thugs forcefully opened the locked gate to the entrance of the secretariat.

Mr. Amoda Bello, a local member of the party and loyalist to Mr. Kekemeke, led the armed thugs to disrupt the activities at the party.

SaharaReporters also witnessed many of these hoodlums who were armed with dangerous weapons such as broken bottles, sticks, and charms as they chased away aggrieved members from the office.

Mr. Kekemeke was alleged to have endorsed the candidature of Bode Ayorinde, one of the frontline aspirants of the party.

The aggrieved members had, during the Tuesday protest, declared Mr. Saka Yusuf Ogunleye as the factional chairman of the opposition party.

Speaking to journalists, the party's State secretary, Rahman Rotimi said they would resist all means from the faction led by Ogunleye to take over the party from Kekemeke.

Mr. Rotimi added that the crisis rocking the party would soon be over, noting that Kekemeke remained the State Chairman of the party.

However, armed security personnel were sighted close to the party's secretariat carrying out surveillance of the area.

[slideshow]48565[/slideshow]

Topics
Politics