The spokesman of the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dayo Adeyeye has said that despite the sealing off the Sharks Stadium in Port Harcourt by the police, venue of the Peoples Democratic party’s National Convention, the party was able to successfully hold it.
Adeyeye, who insisted that holding the convention outside the earlier planned venue does not invalidate it, confirmed that the tenure of the Makarfi Caretaker Committee has been extended by one year.
Speaking to Channels Television in Port Harcourt, Adeyeye explained that the party had to move to its secretariat in Port Harcourt where it held the convention and announced the extension of the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee by one year at the end of the exercise.
The Nigerian Police had cordoned off the venue of the planned National Convention, citing the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday barring the PDP from holding the convention.
Justice Okon Abang, ruling in a motion filed by a factional chairman of the party, Ali-Modu Sheriff, restrained the Inspector General of Police and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from supervising or monitoring the planned convention pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigerian Police, Donald Amunah defended the action, maintaining that the police got conflicting orders and as a neutral body, they have to take charge. [myad]
