The National Chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kabiru Turaki, says more than 50 canisters of teargas were fired at him, governors, and members of his team as they struggled to access the party’s national secretariat on Tuesday.
Mr Turaki, who emerged as chairperson at the party’s convention in Ibadan last Saturday, said the situation could have resulted in bloodshed if he and his team had not exercised restraint.
He added that despite the ordeal, he and his team would remain determined to carry out their mandate.
The chairperson stated these while addressing journalists shortly after assuming office and taking his seat at the secretariat.
“If we have not exercised restraint, if we have not controlled our members and our leaders, there would have been bloodshed here.
“We will have been tear-gassed, and I think more than 50 kinds of canisters of tear gas have been shot at us. But we remain relentless, and will continue to remain relentless,” he said.
Mr Turaki, a former special duties minister and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) urged PDP members to take note of the developments, warning that he would not hesitate to call on all party members across the country to converge on the secretariat if the situation persists.
“So I call on all members of PDP all over this country to know that this is what is happening, and should this continue, I will not hesitate to call all members of PDP in Nigeria to assemble here,” he added.
Mr Turaki’s emergence as Chairperson at the Ibadan convention was rejected by a faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, which argued that the convention violated an existing court order restraining it.
The Wike-backed faction, which also has the embattled National Secretary of the PDP, Samuel Anyanwu, as a member, recently appointed Mohammed Abdulrahman as its own chairperson.
During the Ibadan convention, the party expelled Messrs Wike, Anyanwu, Abdulrahman and eight other members of the Wike-led faction over allegations of anti-party activities.
PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported the likelihood of a confrontation between Mr Turaki’s leadership and the Wike-aligned faction, as both groups scheduled meetings at the same venue, the PDP national secretariat, on Tuesday.
The two sides eventually clashed while attempting to access the NEC hall. Police fired teargas to prevent some officials from entering the premises.
Amid the chaos, Mr Wike, Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, and Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, Bala Mohammed, engaged in a heated verbal exchange. The two governors asked the FCT Commissioner of Police, Dantawaye Miller, to order Mr Wike out of the secretariat, insisting he is no longer a member of the PDP.
As the argument continued, police fired teargas both inside and outside the secretariat.
Turaki assumes office
Mr Turaki said his team has successfully taken control of the secretariat from the faction expelled at the party’s Ibadan convention.
“For the past seven hours, Nigerians have been living witnesses to the struggle we’ve been engaged in with those relegated members of our party that were expelled in our national convention in Ibadan. They came here with armed thugs, like we predicted, to disrupt our meetings, but, God so kind, we were able to curtail them effectively.
“Now, we have driven them out of the secretariat, and as you can see, I have entered my office, and I have assumed leadership as the elected national chairman. For this struggle, no doubt, is a continuing one. We will continue, we will remain relentless, we shall continue to fight,” he added.
Call on Tinubu to caution Wike
Mr Turaki called on President Bola Tinubu to caution Mr Wike, accusing him of leading armed thugs to cause chaos at the party secretariat.
“But I want to call on the president. If there’s anybody who wants peace in any given society, it should be the leadership. The president should call his minister to order. The kind of conduct that the Minister of the FCT had gotten himself engaged in this morning, leading to this afternoon, is unbecoming.
“How can a serving minister lead thugs to come and disrupt a legally arranged meeting? The meeting, respectively, notices have been given to the police and other security agencies.”
Appeal to the international community
The PDP chairperson also appealed to the international community to intervene, saying Nigeria’s democracy is under threat.
“I want to call, once again, on the international community, you’ve seen what is happening. You’ve seen what is happening. You’ve seen the attempts that are now openly being made to destroy and stifle democracy. We will defend democracy. We shall continue to act as defenders of democracy. And like I’ve said, we are prepared to lay down our lives for the purpose of watering and nurturing this nascent democracy that our forefathers had fought arduously to give us,” he said.
Mr Turaki commended party members and leaders for their composure despite the heavy use of teargas by security operatives.
“I would therefore want to commend the resilience of our members. I want to thank our leaders for refusing to be provoked in spite of the high amount of provocation. This shows that we in PDP are peace-loving people, and will continue to be peace-loving and law-abiding.
“But that does not mean that if we’ve seen that people are going to touch us, are going to touch our integrity, are going to touch our lives, that we will not hesitate to take advantage of the constitutional rights that we have,” he said.