Chaos broke out at Wadata Plaza as Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde, his Bauchi State counterpaprt, Senator Bala Mohammed, and the national leaders elected during the party’s controversial convention last week in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, arrived the secretariat, triggering clashes with the police and supporters of another faction, led by the factional National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who tried to block their entry.

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Nyesom Wike, who leads the Anyanwu faction, also arrived at Wadata Plaza but is yet to alight from his car, where he has remained for over 30 minutes, as at the time of this report.

Meanwhile, Makinde and Mohammed remained in the premises. They briefed journalists, recounting their ordeal, including the teargas fired by the police and the resistance they faced from the supporters, led by Anyanwu.

Channels Television earlier reported that heavy security was deployed to the PDP national headquarters in Abuja as the two rival factions, each claiming authentic leadership of the party, prepared to hold separate meetings at the same location.

The Anyanwu–led National Working Committee (NWC) first arrived at the premises with him insisting that he remains the party’s National Secretary until his tenure expires in December, and settling into his office despite the brewing leadership dispute.

Anyanwu confirmed that he invited the security operatives who barricaded major sections outside the premises.

He explained that it is the PDP’s usual practice to call in security personnel whenever a meeting of such magnitude is scheduled, in order to maintain law and order.

He added that the security personnel were also on standby to deal with any ‘intruders’, a remark clearly directed at the NWC elected at the Ibadan convention, which is led by Alhaji Kabiru Turaki, which had also announced plans to hold its own meeting at the Wadata Plaza headquarters.