PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) secretary Professor Wale Oladipo was forced to flee barefoot from the party secretariat yesterday by irate youths who attempted to lynch him over his role in crisis that has led to Senator Ali Modu Sheriff claiming he is the party chairman.
Over recent months, the PDP has been in crisis following the election of former Borno State governor Senator Sheriff as party chairman despite being the subject of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) investigations. However, last week, a faction of the party elected former Kaduna State governor Senator Ahmed Makarfi, as interim chairman.
This week, however, Senator Sherrif's supporters took over the party secretariat in Abuja, claiming he was the bonafide chairman of the PDP. During the fracas, Professor Oladipo had to flee from the secretariat without any footwear, although he has subsequently denied this, saying he left after finishing his tasks for the day.
Two separate groups supporting rival factions in the PDP crisis had stormed the party secretariat at different times of the day. The first group of youths, after chasing out the two party officials, locked up the national secretariat and handed the keys to the board of trustees.
Later in the day, another band of youths loyal to Senator Sheriff stormed the secretariat, broke the keys unchallenged and later left the premises. The first group, which defied the early morning rain, started arriving as early as 7am, carrying placards with inscriptions such as Enough is Enough: Makarfi is Real; Sheriff is Not a PDP Member; Makarfi Is Real; Sheriff Must Go.
Numbering over 200, the youths met no resistance from policemen at the gate as they moved into the party secretariat. It was learnt that the protesters, who had some women among them, were brought from Niger, Kaduna and Nasarawa states.
However, Professor Oladipo and Alhaji Adewole Adeyanju, the party's national auditor, who had arrived at the office earlier, were trapped in their offices as the youths marched round the office complex, dancing and chanting anti-Sheriff songs. Some of the youths shouted that the two of them should be dealt with for collaborating with Senator Sheriff to destroy the party but security agents attached to the secretariat pleaded with the youths to allow Oladipo and Adeyanju to leave peacefully.
As they pleaded with the youths, one of the security operatives managed to sneak out Professor Oladipo’s vehicle through the back entrance. Professor Oladipo, who ran out of his office barefooted, also joined in begging the youths not to harm him.
He said: “Please allow me to go. I won’t come back again.”
He hurried away for fear of being beaten by the youths who were waving horse whips. Both men were successfully smuggled out of the premises to a nearby business centre, from where they were eventually taken to safety.
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