PDP Warns Of Possible Breakdown Of Law, Order If APC In Edo Is Not Checked

By Simeon OSAJIE

Edo State Caretaker Committee Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Tony Aziegbemi today warned of a possible breakdown of law and order, leading to anarchy and chaos in the state if the continued brigandage, illegality, and violent assault on democracy of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state is not checked.

Dr. Aziegbemi, who gave the warning at a press conference in Benin said, at 1.31 pm on Thursday, January 16, 2025, the APC, using several Toyota Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) and other vehicles, led by the Acting State Chairman, Jarret Tenebe deployed their thugs, backed by policemen from the Government House, to sack the PDP from its secretariat on Airport Road, Benin City.

The entire operation, according to Aziegbemi, was violent and brutal as has never been heard of or seen before in Edo State and lasted for more than an hour.

Dr. Aziegbemi accused the APC of vandalizing the secretariat with banners and other materials taken off and destroyed.

According to him, “Lives were put in danger, including mine as the chairman of the PDP in Edo State. I was forcefully bundled out of my office with the help of Mr. Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Hon. Blessing Agbebaku amidst brutal assault and violence against my person.

“No doubt, this is arguably the worst attack on democracy in any part of Nigeria since the nation’s return to democracy in 1999. Even military regimes before 1999 were not as violent or brutal against dissenting voices as the Okpebholo-led government since they took over office on November 12, 2024.”

Azigbemi lamented that the violent takeover of the PDP secretariat by Governor Monday Okpebholo’s henchmen is a clear reflection of the reign of terror that the people of Edo State have witnessed over the past two months.

While insisting that PDP is the legitimate tenants of the said property, the PDP Caretaker Committee Chairman likened the violent takeover of the secretariat to the same devious tactics deployed to hound and intimidate duly elected council chairmen and the vice chairmen out of office, using horse whips and other dangerous weapons.

“It is the same pattern that is deployed in motor parks and markets, where thugs operating under the protection of the state government harass, intimidate, and extort transporters and traders daily without restraint,” he lamented.

Dr. Aziegbemi called on the Federal Government, international agencies, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders to rein in Governor Okpebholo, who he said has become an unleashed force of lawlessness, so that he can know the limits of his power as a governor and put an end to this executive rascality, illegality, brigandage and brazen assault on democracy.

“The police and other security agencies in the state who are supposed to put them in check appear to be either complacent or complicit. We must unequivocally state that Edo is at the precipice. Democracy in Edo State is on fire. We warn that the wind currently blowing in Edo State is an ill-wind, which will blow no one no good,” he emphasized.

Insisting on the right of return, Tenebe had forcefully taken possession of the party secretariat, four years after it was forcefully evicted by immediate past Governor Godwin Obaseki of the PDP.

Speaking shortly after the takeover of the party secretariat, the APC chairman said the property rightfully belonged to the ruling party as they had renewed the rent for a period of seven years.

Tenebe pointedly accused the PDP, with the help of Obaseki of forcefully taking over the property from the APC when he (Obaseki) defected from the APC to the PDP during the run to the 2020 governorship election.

Shedding more light on the status of the property, the State Publicity Secretary of the Caretaker Committee, Chris Nehikhare said that Tenebe, who in 2020 was the Deputy State Chairman of the APC, was one of the parties that went to court to ask for permission to relocate the APC secretariat from the contentious secretariat to another location.

According to Nehikhare, “The Benin Division of the Appeal Court gave judgment allowing the APC to relocate its secretariat to another location off the Airport Road, and wondered how the property Tenebe asked the court to order to relocate from now suddenly became the APC secretariat.”

It would be recalled that speaking to a cross-section of the media on Thursday after the invasion of the PDP secretariat, the Edo APC State Acting Chairman, Jarett Tenebe, said that APC rented the property as its secretariat and had a tenancy agreement of seven years before the immediate past governor of the state, Godwin Obaseki, converted the place to the PDP secretariat when he dumped the APC for the PDP in 2020.