A meeting of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Abia State ended in chaos at the weekend after angry youths loyal to the state chairman, Mr. Don Norman Obinna, disrupted the session in Umuahia.
The meeting, reportedly convened by some suspended party officials, had just begun when the youths stormed the venue, demanding to know why Obinna was not present.
Tension escalated when the suspended state secretary, Pastor Uche Ndom, and the party’s national welfare officer, Mr. Nkem Ukandu, informed the youths that Obinna had been suspended.
Their explanation provoked outrage, as the youths descended on Ndom, tearing his clothes, while Ukandu fled the scene to avoid being attacked.
Eyewitnesses said the suspended secretary narrowly escaped lynching, as sympathizers intervened to calm the enraged crowd.
Before the disruption, the protesters were heard chanting solidarity songs in support of Obinna.
They accused unnamed politicians, including a senator, of plotting to hijack the party from the chairman.
One of the youth leaders, identified as Uche, told reporters that the group was angered by what it described as injustice against Obinna. “He built the party from scratch.
It is unfair for anyone to try to take it away from him,” he said.
When contacted, Obinna denied knowledge of any state meeting of the ADC, insisting that he remained the only person authorized by the party’s constitution to convene such gatherings.
“There is no crisis in the ADC. What you are seeing is a group of sponsored individuals trying to hijack the party. They will not succeed,” he said.
Efforts to reach Ndom and Ukandu for comments were unsuccessful, as their mobile phones were switched off at the time of filing this report.