The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national secretariat, the Wadata Plaza in Abuja, has remained closed for seven months as the leadership tussle in the party persists.

The party’s campaign office located at Maitama has also remained shut for the same period.

They were both sealed up the same day by policemen to prevent a clash between the two factions of the party that ruled Nigeria for 16 years.

The closure of the party’s headquarters and the campaign office came 24 hours after PDP leaders held parallel convention in Abuja and Port Harcourt on May 2.

The Port Harcourt convention elected Senators Ahmed Makarfi as interim chairman while Ali Modu Sheriff emerged as chairman at the Abuja convention.

A visit to the national secretariat by our correspondent yesterday revealed that the place is desolate and overgrown by weeds.

Daily Trust observed that flowers had gone pale, banners containing pictures of prominent party men and women torn while some of the party’s flags were untidy.

It was observed that some of the doors are beginning to rust while an iron plate bearing “Wadata Plaza” has pulled out.

Similarly, no car was sighted around the premises apart from the Police van used in barricading the major link routes to the office gates.

The three gates to the secretariat were under lock and key and some policemen and men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) were seen monitoring them and the entire premises.

A policeman who did not want to be named told Daily Trust that their presence was based on an “order from the above” to ensure that there was no breach of the peace by the two warring camps in the party.

“Our duty here is to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order by any one. We will be here till the problem is over,” he said.

The secretariat was sealed following an order from the then Inspector General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase.

The spokesman of the PDP National Caretaker Committee, Prince Dayo Adeyeye told newsmen recently in Abuja, that relocating to the secretariat was not a priority, claiming that “the secretariat has been polluted by evil forces.”
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