Violence broke out at the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP) national headquarters in Abuja on Thursday afternoon, less than 15 minutes after members of the Board of Trustees (BoT) convened an emergency meeting.
Tensions flared as two claimants to the position of National Secretary—Senator Samuel Anyanwu and Hon. Sunday Udeh-Okoye—insisted on participating in the 79th BoT meeting, both taking seats at the high table.
The situation escalated when Udeh-Okoye was forcibly removed from the hall by an aide of Senator Anyanwu, along with security personnel.
He resisted being pushed out and demanded that his supporters, who had scaled the main fence, be allowed inside.
Emmanuel Okoronkwo, an aide to Anyanwu, who had previously assaulted a journalist at the PDP secretariat, slapped Udeh-Okoye and joined others in physically removing him from the venue.
Security personnel initially used pepper spray to control the chaos, but tensions reignited ten minutes later when Udeh-Okoye returned with about ten men dressed in black T-shirts.
Policemen and the PDP Chief Security Officer were seen appealing to him to de-escalate the situation.
More than 50 supporters from both factions currently gathered outside the party secretariat.
