The police has opened the sealed Labour Party’s Imo State secretariat in Owerri, the state capital.
The police officers who took control of the facility left the premise on Monday.
Additionally, it was noted that secretariat employees could once again access the LP office.
This is coming after the party’s national secretary, Umar Farouk, charged Hope Uzodimma, the governor of the state, and the police to seal the secretariat in a statement released yesterday.
The statement reads in part, “the national leadership of the Labour Party is shocked over the invasion and occupation of its secretariat in Owerri, today, Monday April 3, 2023 by the agents of the Imo state governor, Hope Uzodimma, including thugs and unauthorized police men drafted from the government house.
“Such illegal occupation was akin to similar invasion on the same secretariat on Wednesday March 15, 2023.
“Unlike the March invasion, where no reason was given by the state government on why it took such unlawful action against our political party, this time, they said that the action was due to a court order.
” But as at the moment, no such order to our knowledge was given. No order has been presented to us by the court or their agents. The police men presently occupying our secretariat have not even shown us the order. At the moment, all our officials and staff have been barred from accessing the secretariat.”
Although, the force had claimed they were not aware of any security breach in the state that would have warranted the occupation of their secretariat, despite the fact that the party had contacted the office of the Inspector General of Police about the development in the state.
Farouk said that the police also told them that none of its officers or personnel had been assigned to the secretariat in Imo state and that the officers might have been chosen from the state’s State House.
