Police take over Enugu APC secretariat as crisis deepens

Ex-governor seeks more officers nationwide

The Police yesterday took over the Enugu State secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the leadership crisis that has engulfed the state chapter of the party deepens.

A detachment of police officers heavily armed from federal and state Anti-Robbery Squad, officials of the Department for Security Services (DSS), Civil Defense Officials took strategic locations at the secretariat, even as a meeting of the state executive committee of the party was ongoing.

Aggrieved and suspended members of the party had on Monday allegedly broke into the secretariat at the Government Reserved Area (GRA), Enugu and convened an emergency session where they suspended the state chairman, Ben Nwoye for alleged anti-party activities and mismanagement of party funds.

Nwoye had dismissed their action as the “joke,” saying that he remains the chairman of the party.”The group had appointed the state deputy chairman, Adolphus Ude to act as chairman, pending the conclusion of an investigation it said it constituted against the state chairman.

Nwoye convened a state executive meeting at the party secretariat. It was attended by 16 local government chairmen and their secretaries, vice chairmen in the three senatorial zones, members of the state working committee among others where they announced the expulsion of Ude from the party.

He explained that police occupation of the party secretariat followed the attack on his office and further threats on the secretariat.Meanwhile, former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke has advocated for increase in the number of police officers in the country from 350,000 to 500,000 personnel.

Duke said this yesterday in Abuja during the launch of a book written by former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase entitled: “Law on Prevention and Detection of Crimes by the Police in Nigeria.”He said the decentralisation of policing and presence was the greatest deterrent to crime that allows for better monitoring and intelligence gathering.

He noted that the government needed to review entry levels into the force from Ordinary National Diploma (OND) to Higher National Diploma (HND) and to conduct aptitude tests for further entry and promotions.

Duke added that constant training and retraining was necessary in keeping up with the dynamics of a 21st century cyber technical world. “We must quickly reach at least 500,000 federal policemen from the current 350,000 or thereabout and about the same number at the state level,” he said.

Arase, in his welcome address said the 21st century policing architecture of Nigeria ought to deviate from this state of affairs and evolve into a knowledge driven system that would befit our democratic values.

“It is time for the nation to appreciate that an average police officer in modern policing clime must be made to understand the law to be able to enforce it from an informed and professional perspective,” he stated.