Politics

APC primaries: Angry youths invade party’s secretariat in Abuja

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Some youths believed to be supporters of one the aspirants contesting for the Senatorial ticket under the All Progressives Congress ( APC) in the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) have stormed the APC National Secretariat in protest.
The youths in possession of all kinds of harmful weapons have blocked the entrance and exit points along Blantyre Street where the Secretariat is located.
The protesting youths who said they were FCT natives said the use of direct primaries would mean that a non-FCT native could clinch the ruling party’s ticket for the sole senatorial seat in the territory. While they chased security operatives at the gate away, no party official was on ground to address them.
They said since all contestants for the various positions in the FCT agreed on the use of indirect primaries, they were at a loss as to why the National Working Committee would impose the direct method on them.
They claimed that the party was planning to impose a particular aspirant on them, pointing out that through the indirect mode, they are sure that an indigene of the FCT will emerge as the candidate of the party.
The youths who became violent, pulled down the security wire around the Secretariat and destroyed the billboard in front of the Secretariat while locking up the entrance into the Secretariat and daring the police to shoot them.
However, the arrival of the Commissioner of Police in the FCT prevented what would have turned into a brutal confrontation between the police and the irate youth who chanted anti-Oshiomhole slogans.
Some of the protesting youths who were later dispersed by the police promised to launch a more vicious attack on the secretariat if the NWC’s decision is not reversed.
About nine aspirants are contesting the Senatorial primary in the FCT.