Francis Odesanya, the Rivers State police commissioner, has said that he did not seal off the convention venue of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, but was “only providing security”.
Whereas, the members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, say that the police sealed off the venue of the planned national convention in the morning of Wednesday, August 17, 2016 of the party and prevented the event from holding.
The police also barricaded the Old Presidential Lodge, where party leaders like Governor Ayodele Fayose were lodging, preventing the party chieftains from attending the down-scaled convention.
The party had to move the event to its secretariat in Port Harcourt where extended by one year the tenure of the party’s caretaker committee led by Ahmed Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State.
According to Punch, Odesanya explained that by his action, he was only complying with a court order, even as he said that he was not in a position to interpret court judgement.
Two federal high courts, one in Abuja and Port Harcourt had given conflicting positions on the PDP National Convention that was to hold in the Rivers State capital.
While the court in Port Harcourt had ruled that the convention should hold, the Abuja High Court ordered that the exercise should not hold and warned police and the Independent National Electoral Commission to stay away from it.
But while the police seal off the venue of the convention, the state CP insisted that his men were only providing security.
“I did not seal off the convention venue. I was only providing security. I was only obeying a court order. It is not my duty to interpret court order,” Odesanya stressed.
However, as of 11.35am, most PDP delegates were nowhere around the Sharks Stadium, venue of the convention.
Hattip to Signal
