The Anambra State Government on Tuesday deployed its agents to seal off the head office of the faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) led by Edozie Njoku in the state.
It was gathered that the state government agents and men in military uniform, in the early hours of Tuesday, sealed the Njoku-led APGA Secretariat, located at Udoka Estate in Awka, the state capital.
The latest development comes with about a month to the September 28, 2024, date for elections in the 21 local government areas of Anambra State.
The factional National Chairman of APGA, Chief Njoku, who spoke via phone on Tuesday, confirmed that he received information about the sealing of the party’s head office by Anambra state government officials.
He disclosed that he was consulting with the National Secretariat of APGA in Abuja on the matter and would take necessary action based on the outcome of his consultation.
“It is true, I got the information this morning (Tuesday) that the party office was sealed by a government agency.
“So, I am consulting with the National Secretariat. It is after the consultation that we decide on the action we will take. I need to know the true facts on the ground, and my Secretaries are making calls; once we have the true picture, we can have a proper and accurate reaction.”
In a related development, the Labour Party (LP) in Anambra State has lamented the sealing off of its office in Awka by the State Government.
According to the Secretary of the Labour Party in Anambra State, Chief John Okoli-Akirika, the action was carried out without notice, warning, or any form of engagement with the Labour Party.
He said agents of the Anambra State Government, accompanied by men dressed in military uniforms, stormed the Labour Party Anambra State office and, in a maniacal, frenzied, and frenetic commando-like operation, chased away the staff and sealed the office.
“It is rather unfortunate, bizarre, and brazen that the Anambra State Government, which is fruitlessly seeking to truncate statutorily emplaced procedures to select Local Government Chairmen and councilors in the deviously convoluted LG election, is now mindlessly resorting to underhand, illegal, and obnoxious intimidation,” he said.
While appealing to the teeming Labour Party members, supporters, sympathizers, stakeholders, and Anambra people, in general, to be patient, Okoli-Akirika said the state leadership of the Party will, as law-abiding Anambrarians, have recourse to due process to contain and checkmate the unprovoked action.
When our correspondent contacted the Special Adviser on Political Matters to the governor, Dr. Obi Ogbolu, in reaction, he denied knowledge of any move to seal off a political party office except that someone had called him to complain that agents of the State Housing Development Corporation asked them to leave their residential building at Udoka Estate.
“I am not aware of any attempt to seal off a party office except that someone called me to complain that they were being asked to leave, and I asked them where. They told me Udoka Estate, so I called the Housing Development Corporation to inquire if there was anything going on.
“They said they had given a warning that the landlord had converted the place to commercial use without making an application and that this issue had been ongoing. They mentioned that the residential place had been converted to commercial use. I am not aware it’s a party Secretariat,” he said.
