A joint team comprising policemen and soldiers have disrupted a meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, at Umuakatawom community in Obingwa council area of Abia State.

The security team allegedly led by the chairman of Obingwa council,Hon. Maxwell Nwadike was said to have invaded the venue of the meeting, pointed guns on party members and forced them to leave the area.

Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Obingwa council, Hon. Ogbonna Nwanmuo, described the attack as unwarranted and a sign that the Labour Party is threatened by the teeming support the PDP enjoys in the area.

He said; ”We gathered at Umuakatawom for our party’s LGA meeting. The meeting was about to commence when a combined team of policemen and soldiers stormed the venue , pointing guns and asking us to leave the place. The policemen and soldiers were led by the chairman of the local government who said the meeting will not be allowed to hold at the place. Some youth leaders wanted to challenge him but leaders of the party restrained them.PDP cannot be intimidated.”

The publicity secretary disclosed that the meeting was relocated to another venue.

Reacting to the incident, State chairman of the PDP in Abia State, Elder Abraham Amah, condemned the deployment of the joint security to disrupt the party meeting and described the action as not only a gross misuse of state security resources but a blatant violation of democratic principles.

“This heavy-handed action marks a dangerous and intolerable escalation in the ongoing effort by the Alex Otti-led government to criminalize opposition politics in the state.”

Chairman of Obingwa council,Hon. Maxwell Nwadike,denied disrupting any meeting, stressing that the PDP members were only asked to leave the area as political meetings are not allowed to hold in public facilities.

Efforts to get the reaction of the spokesperson of the Abia State Police command, Maureen Chinaka,was unsuccessful as she did not respond to calls and text message to her handset. (Vanguard)