The Labour Party (LP) has slammed the Anambra State Government for sealing its Secretariat in Awka, the state capital, without notice.
News About Nigeria reports that the sealing of the complex was done on Tuesday without prior notice to the party.
Reacting to the development in a statement by C.J. Okoli Akirika, the secretary of the party in Anambra State, LP described the action by the state government as “high-handed and draconian.”
While condemning the action, Akrika noted that it was carried out without notice, warning, or any form of engagement with the Labour Party.
According to him, all they saw were agents of the Anambra State Government, accompanied by men dressed in military uniforms, who stormed the Party Secretariat to chase all staff on ground and seal the office.
The statement partly reads, “The recent action of the Anambra State government in sealing off the state offices of opposition parties is a blatant attack on democracy and must be resisted at all costs. This move is reminiscent of the wise words of the late Professor Chinua Achebe, who in his novel ‘Things Fall Apart’, wrote: ‘When the gods want to kill a man, they first make him mad.’ This quote highlights the dangers of unchecked power and the importance of standing up against oppressive actions. The sealing of opposition party offices is a clear attempt to silence dissenting voices an to undermine democratic principles. It is essential that we resist this move and protect the fundamental rights of all citizens.
“It is rather unfortunate, bizarre, and brazen that the Anambra State Government, which is fruitlessly seeking to truncate statutorily emplaced procedures to select Local Government Chairmen and councillors in the deviously convoluted LG election, is now mindlessly resorting to underhand, illegal, and obnoxious intimidation. While appealing to the teeming Labour Party members, supporters, sympathisers, stakeholders, and Ndi Anambra in general, the state leadership of our great Labour Party shall, as law-abiding Anambrarians, have recourse to due process to contain and checkmate this unprovoked and untrammelled illegality.”
