…Int’l community accuses party of muzzling opposition
The sealing of the national secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on May 26, irked the international community, Sunday Telegraph gathered.
The secretariat was sealed, according to the FCTA, because the PDP was owing a ground rent of over N7 million for a period of 25 years.
The party has been occupying the property since 1998, but the FCTA said, it belongs to Senator Samaila Mammam Kurfi.
Though Lere Olayinka, spokesperson of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike, denied that the action was a political witch-hunt, this newspaper gathered that the international community did not agree with the explanation.
A highly placed source, who pleaded for anonymity, said hours after the sealing off of the secretariat hit the news wave, President Bola Tinubu was inundated with telephone calls by members of the international community accusing his government of muzzling the opposition in the country.
Said the source:”We were told that the president received a lot of phone calls from members of the international community who accused his government of trying to silence opposition political parties in Nigeria.
“You could remember that our party has always said that the sealing of our national secretariat was a systematic way of weakening PDP by the APC to pave way for a one-party state in the country.
“Even the timing showed that it was a political witch-hunt by the APC administration. It came hours before our NEC meeting. So, it has everything to do with attempt to silence the opposition.”
The PDP national secretariat was sealed on the eve of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, which was held on May 27. This forced the party to relocate the meeting to Legacy House, the presidential campaign office.
According to the source, it was the flurry of calls that Tinubu received that made him to give the party and others whose properties were sealed, a 14-day grace to pay the rent and secure their properties.
“It is not out of empathy but because of the reactions of democratic world that made the president to intervene,” he added.
He disclosed that the problem of the PDP was yet over, as the party’s file at the FCTA could no longer be traced.
A source at the Account department of the PDP told Sunday Telegraph that when the party mobilised funds to pay for the accumulated rent, “we were told that they could not trace any of our documents, not even the file of the former owner.”
It was gathered that though PDP has taken possession of the property but the formal change of ownership has not been effected, the reason why notices for the payment of ground rent were sent to the former owner and not the PDP.
The source said the party met another challenge on the second visit, as it was told that the Minister was not happy that it escalated the closure of the secretariat.
“The stage we are now is that we were told that Wike is not happy. He told us that the condition to settle the matter is for the party to apologise for the embarrassing the president.
“We are ready with the money to make the payment and secure the secretariat if the approval is given,” he stated.
It is not immediately known whether the letter has been written. Sunday Telegraph was unable to reach the National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba for his reaction.
According to the source: “It is an administrative matter. Our own is to make the payment once we get the clearance.”
