Bode George, a major PDP chieftain, has denounced the security personnel’s blockage of the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, calling it a perilous step toward dictatorship.
According to reports, George, a former deputy national chairman of the party, spoke to reporters on Monday after armed officers prevented him and other senior members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) and National Executive Committee (NEC) from entering Wadata Plaza, the PDP headquarters.
George, who was clearly furious, warned the Federal Government against leading the country down a similar path, claiming that the action was reminiscent of Nigeria’s political turmoil in the early 1960s.
“It’s strikingly annoying,” he said. We own this property. Was there a court order stating that our meeting would not take place in our office? What’s happening? When it all began in the South West in 1962, I was a young man. We have to keep that craziness at bay. What is it? Can’t we just sit and chat? What is democracy all about?
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He questioned the rationale behind the use of heavily armed police to break up a peaceful party gathering and accused the authorities of trying to suppress democratic discourse.
“Nigerians are watching,” George continued. We want to have a meeting, therefore you came to our office and surrounded it with police? Do you wish to make this country more like Russia or more like North Korea? We won’t permit it. Nigerians won’t tolerate it.
Citing security concerns, he refused to disclose the alternative location but pledged that the meeting would still go place.
Security personnel reportedly occupied Wadata Plaza earlier in the day, denying party officials—including members of the Board of Directors—entry to the building after they had gathered for the important NEC meeting.
