Men of the Nigerian Police have blocked the gate of the National Secretariat following a sharp disagreement between the national leadership and staff over plans to reduce the staff strength, their salaries and allowances by 50 per cent.
PDP, National Secretariat, Abuja
It is a rough time for the People's Democratic Party following the party's new role as the opposition party in Nigeria. The party is currently going through financial crisis and the leadership of the party has resolved to cutting down its staff strength by 50% and also 50% pay cut for the remaining workers. This has resulted into a bitter disagreement between the national leadership and the members of staff at the secretariat in Abuja.
In an effort to forestall calm, men of the Nigeria Police Force were mandated to barricade the entrance of the secretariat which prevented the workers from gaining access to their offices.
In the early hours of yesterday, following directives from the leadership of the party, a truck load of Policemen blocked the gate and deprived the staff from entering the secretariat. Police action, however, met a stiff resistance from the angry PDP staff.
The policemen, who were deployed at strategic ends of the PDP secretariat, refused to utter a word to the aggrieved staff that came to work as early as 7.30 am only to be shut-out.
According to The Vanguard, it took the intervention of PDP Acting Chairman, Board of Trustees, Dr. Bello Haliru Mohammed, who made a call to the leadership of the party that the staff be allowed into the premises.
It should be noted that management of PDP who are the directors, deputy directors and assistant directors, had on Monday held a closed door marathon meeting with the warring staff to admonish them to accept a ceasefire due to the challenges befalling the party at present. The meeting was presided on by National Director of Administration, Alhaji Gurama Bawa.