BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, ABUJA
THE National Secretary of the Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, says the team of policemen who took over the Buhari House Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress on Monday was invited by the party hierarchy to strengthen the leadership of the party.
The reaction, he said, followed a security report at the disposal of the party’s leadership, which alleged that some groups were planning to carry out a protest at the party’s secretariat.
Akpanudoedehe addressed a press conference on Monday in Abuja to address the issue.
He said, “The police is here to strengthen the leadership of governor Buni, the Caretaker Chairman of the APC. What do I mean by that? Whenever you read a security situation; whenever you hear of a security report, it is incumbent on our part to strengthen security so that we can protect the lives and property of the APC.”
The measure was taken to forestall any ugly incident at the party secretariat or against the party, he maintained.
“APC cannot be embarrassed because this is a national government, therefore we take measures to forestall any happenings. We cannot underestimate security report, we cannot play down on it. We have a security report. We can’t take laws into our hands.
“You can’t expect us to call thugs to defend the national secretariat. The right thing to do is to inform the police and the DSS, so that they may know whoever gave the report that so, so thing has happened,” he added.
Akpanudoedehe maintained that the CECPC would always take measures ahead of eventualities.
He pointed out that the party also planned to enforce adherence to COVID-19 measures at the party secretariat, because of the Delta variant.
“Another measure we are going to take is that if you don’t have your face mask you will not enter. We are going to start testing people now because of the Delta variant. You will not be able to come to the national secretariat without a face mask,” he said.
The national secretary further noted that the party had the responsibility to protect everyone in the national secretariat, including the media men.
“For instance, now if there is a protest and you as a media man, you have been killed or brutalised, it will be a big news that somebody has been shot at the national secretariat.
“It is our responsibility as managers of this party to put measures in place to protect lives and property,” he said.
Akpanudoedehe, however, maintained that Governor Mai Mala Buni’s position as the chairman was not threatened, in spite of what some had perceived as a recent crisis on legality in the party.
