The PDP members from the 25 local government areas of the state arrived at the Secretariat as early as 10 a.m. before the police deployed officers in the venue to stop the meeting.
The meeting was summoned by the Alhaji Tanko Beji-led state executive to affirm the position of the national working committee on the crisis in the party.
The policemen who came to enforce an ‘order from above’ that the meeting should not hold met an already filled hall and had to use one of its vehicles NPF9993C to block the main entrance to the secretariat.
The state chairman of the party, Alhaji Tanko Beji, later led some officials to the police headquarters where he briefed the commissioner of Police, Muazu Zubairu, that the meeting was purely a party affair without any plan to cause a breach of the peace as being alleged.
Our correspondent learnt that the stakeholders meeting was almost through when another detachment of policemen stormed the secretariat asking that the meeting should stop.
There was a shouting match between some youths of the party and the policemen who were trying to force their way into the Hall to stop the meeting from continuing.
It was observed that the security men initially attempted to arrest the chairman of the party, but shelved the plan because of the likelihood of the action causing a breakdown of the law and order.
The Police later ask the chairman and other members of the executive to vacate the secretariat to allow for all the stakeholders to leave the premises.
Speaking to journalists later, Beji described the development as ‘undemocratic and uncalled for’ saying “I don’t know when a peaceful political party meeting has become of interest to the police”.
“There is no cause for alarm, there is no problem, they told us that they were informed we wanted to cause mayhem.”
Beji, while denouncing the allegation, declared “We value peace, we cannot cause a breakdown of the law and order”.