|
Etiebet, Useni differ as
police disrupt ANPP meeting
By Chuks Ehirim,
Senior
Correspondent,
Abuja
The meeting of a faction of
the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) was Thursday disrupted by the police,
just as two key members of the party-Don Etiebet and Jerry Useni- differed
on who is the authentic national chairman of the party.
Useni was responsible for the
convocation of the Thursday�s factional meeting at the party�s secretariat
in Abuja.
The disruption, therefore,
confirmed on going crisis rocking the party which is believed to be far
from being over.
The meeting which was earlier
scheduled to hold at Rock View Hotel, Abuja was later shifted to Valential
Hotel, Wuse 2, Abuja, but at about 2pm when it was supposed to take off,
policemen stormed the venue and disrupted the meeting.
Speaking to reporters later on
the development in his house, Useni said he had replaced Don Etiebet as
the party�s acting national chairman.
He said there was an agreement
by the party�s national caucus that himself and Etiebet should stay away
from the party�s national secretariat but that Etiebet had flouted the
order hence his (Useni�s) decision to sack him permanently from the party.
But countering Useni on the
issue, Etiebet said there was no such order. �There was no decision
whatsoever for me to stay away from my office. There was no decision that
we should stay apart and nobody made him a national chairman�, said
Etiebet.
He said he was however
surprised at Useni�s vituperations against him saying, �that is very
characteristic of him; his life and profession has been surrounded by this
type of behaviour.�
He also queried why Useni
could not come to the ANPP national secretariat to say the same things of
him. �He must have been talking to himself and to members of his family. I
don�t take his statement into any considerations�, he said.
According to him, whatever
Useni says does not represent the view of the party just as he said the
party never fixed any NEC meeting on Thursday. On why the meeting was
disruted, Etiebet said it was because such meeting was illegal. �If he
said that a NEC meeting was called and it was disrupted by the police that
means it was an illegal gathering�, said he.
Justifying the reason for
inviting the police to the party�s national secretariat, he said it was
because the secretariat was once attacked by arsonists who set the
national secretary�s office on fire, adding that at another occasion,
�people broke into one of the offices and stole some
documents�.
Alleging that Useni had led a
group of people to the secretariat last week to invade the office Etiebet
expressed discontent over such act, saying Useni acted like one sent on a
peace mission, but who later became an enemy troupe to attack the home
front.
| 
