Angry members of the All Progressives Congress from the six area councils of the Federal Capital Territory stormed the party’s National Secretariat on Wednesday to protest the direct mode of primary imposed on them.
The protesters demanded the reversal of the direct primary mode imposed on the FCT by the party’s National Working Committee.
Some of the protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as: “We Want Indirect Primary,” ‘Oshiomhole Stay Clear of FCT Primary,” “Oshiomhole Destroying APC” and “Oshiomhole, Leadership is Not Activism.”
On learning that there were no party executives to receive them, the crowd became anxious as they tried to force their way into the secretariat.
In the melee which ensued, the irate youths tore down a giant billboard which had the portrait of President Muhammadu Buhari and the party’s National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, after barricading the road to the party secretariat and chasing away the staff and a handful of security operatives on duty.
The protesters also accused the party leadership of trying to impose candidates on them.
The Commissioner of Police in charge of the FCT, Bala Ciroma, led a team of police reinforcements to calm frayed nerves.
Speaking after the police arrived and restored a measure of peace, spokesman for the group, Usman Karshi, said they were protesting the injustice and attempt to impose candidates on party members in the FCT.
He said, “We are here to protest injustice we are here to protest imposition. We are here to sound it loud and clear that we are solidly in support of President Muhammadu Buhari come 2019.
“We are here to say it to all who have ears that in the FCT, results will not be written. We are here to state it loud and clear that the FCT APC is going for an indirect primary.
PUNCH