Tension grew on Sunday morning in Enugu State as armed policemen from the Enugu State Police Command reportedly occupied the state secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), preventing a scheduled event in the place.

The party officials had planned the flag off of their governorship primary at the secretariat on Sunday

But security operatives, had allegedly arrived the party office located at New Haven Junction, Enugu in about five Hilux patrol vans alongside an anti-bomb disposal vehicle, as early as 7am and occupied the premises.

The development had thrown confusion on the party members

The Guardian who visited the secretariat at about 2pm, observed anti-bomb squad personnel combing the environment with detection equipment while heavily armed policemen mounted surveillance around the area.

Canopies and decorated seats had already been arranged within the premises in preparation for the exercise before the unexpected security presence.

The Enugu State PDP Chairman, Vitus Okechi, who reacted to the development, said he was unaware of the reason behind the deployment of policemen to the party office.

Okechi told The Guardian on phone that he was informed in the morning that security operatives had cordoned off the secretariat just as preparations for the primaries were reaching final stages.

“We were preparing to launch our governorship primaries at the party state secretariat by midday. But I received calls in the morning informing me that some policemen have surrounded the office.

“The reason for the occupation of our office by the policemen, as I’m talking to you, is still unknown to me or any member of the party,” he said.

According to him, efforts to reach relevant authorities for clarification proved abortive as none of his calls was answered.

“So, when I got there, I saw the situation and tried to make several calls to the authorities, but nobody answered me,” he added.

Okechi said the party leadership immediately directed members to return to their various wards to continue with the governorship primaries in order to avoid disruption of the exercise.

“So, I rallied our party members to go to their wards to ensure that the governorship primaries held because we didn’t want any distractions for our exercise,” he stated.

The PDP chairman maintained that the exercise was progressing peacefully across the state, stressing that officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were monitoring the process.

“As I’m talking to you, we’re all in our respective wards conducting our primaries and the good thing is that INEC is monitoring our exercise and our members have trooped out en masse for this exercise. So, by tomorrow being Monday, the results would have been collated and announced,” he said.

He further appealed to party faithful to remain calm despite what he described as an unnecessary provocation.

“I call on the party faithful to remain calm and resolute in the face of this needless provocation and support our bid to get someone capable enough to unseat the current government in Enugu State,” Okechi added.

When contacted, the spokesman of the Enugu State Police Command, SP Daniel Ndukwe, said he was not aware of the development.

Ndukwe said he would make inquiries and relay the outcome to journalists, but as of the time of filing this report, he had yet to respond.