The National Headquarters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was practically a tense battleground in the early hours of Thursday, as the national leadership of the party inaugurates the newly-elected State Chairmen of the party.
Afraid that protest might break out during the inauguration due to the crises rocking many of the state chapters that produced parallel State executives, the leadership of the party had massively deplored a countless number of security agents that took over almost all the entire Blantyre Street housing the ruling party Secretariat.
The leadership, the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) had late Wednesday night issued a circular, ordering the Secretariat staff to stay away from work in an attempt to have only a few manageable staff for fear of breakdown of law and order.
The deployment of the security agents had come as surprise to many of the staff unaware of the circular when they were denied entry into the Secretariat on arrival in the early hours.
Although the security agents were civil in screening the few pockets of persons allowed into the Secretariat premises, they had however grounded vehicular and human movements along with the entire Secretariat.
Interestingly, not even the supporters of the about-to-be inaugurated State executives, drumming and dancing, were allowed entrance or too near the Secretariat.
Speaking to Daily Sun, security personnel attached to the party said: “You know we can’t afford to take chances. You know the kind of tension and crises the congresses that produced the state executives have been generating. If the national leadership didn’t take these security measures, there could be a breakdown of law and order with some of the disgruntled factions coming here to protest.”
