A group of youths allegedly loyal to the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, engaged security operatives in a free-for-all over plot to influence the election of the National Association of the Nigerian Students (NANS) by some ‘elements’ allegedly sponsored by the National Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.
The fracas, which occurred at the APC National Secretariat on the eve of the election to swear in new NANS executives slated for Thursday, saw aggrieved students and young party members converged at the entrance of the secretariat in protest.
The protest was led by Segun Dada, one of the former aspirants who stepped down for the current APC National Youth Leader, Dayo Israel.
Dada was said to have arrived at the secretariat on the directive of the youth leader to lodge a complaint during the NWC meeting on how some elements suspected to be elements of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party plan to hijack Thursday’s NANS elections.
The young APC member and his ‘boys’, however, met a stiff resistance from the armed guards at the national secretariat.
To disperse the demonstrators, the security details shot several canisters of tear gas into the crowd; an action that led to a stampede that saw some of the students making attempt to force their way in.
The rowdiness forced the operatives to beefed up security with additional men and applied force.
A source within the secretariat told our correspondent that the security details were acting on the directive of the APC national chairman not to grant access to the NANS members, adding that the students were attempting to disrupt a meeting of the the party’s National Working Committee, which was still in progress.
He said, “Dada’s attempt and desperation to force his way with his delegation resulted in the police using teargas on him and others, which infuriated them, leading to the situation becoming rowdy.
“The surprising thing is that Dada is not a stranger at the secretariat because he worked for some years here. But, he was not however diplomatic in handling the situation otherwise it would not have degenerated to the extent of using several canisters of teargas to disperse them.
“Yes, Dada was on genuine mission to brief the leadership on how PDP elements in APC have hijacked the election, as directed by the youth leader.
“But what we cannot understand was why he came with those hefty boys that fought the security agents. It was bad that the Chief Security Officer of the party was molested by those boys that came with Dada”.
As of the time of filing the story, the National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, could not be reached for reaction.
Wednesday’s fracas has further fuelled the alleged cold War between Tinubu and the National chairman of the party, an allegation that has been dismissed by the camp of the former governor.
Reacting to the report, Director of Media and Communications for Tinubu Campaign Organisation, Bayo Onanuga, said that he has no knowledge of the fracas and cannot report directly on it.
He, however, reiterated that his principal has no rift whatsoever with Adamu.
“I really don’t know where this rumour is coming from. I think the media is part of the problem. As far as I concerned, the candidate of the party leader has a good working relationship,” he stated. – Punch.
