SSS, Soldiers Invade APC Office, Destroy Properties in Lagos

Nigeria is gradually becoming a lawless state, where security operatives act without any recourse to the law. Armed security operatives on Saturday attacked the Lagos, western Nigeria office of the main opposition party in the country, the All Progressives Congress, APC, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, has said.
Mohammed further said the security men destroyed the party’s data base calling it an impunity carried too far and a scandal that can best be compared with the Watergate Scandal of the United States of America that led to the resignation of the country’s president, Richard Nixon in 1974.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the APC said: 

“the invasion could only be likened to the Watergate Scandal that led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon in 1974, as a result of the June 17, 1972, break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the attempted cover-up of its involvement by the Republican Nixon administration.”

It therefore called for an independent inquiry to fish out those who ordered “the needless and unprovoked attack” on the offices of the APC and ensure that they face very serious consequences, irrespective of their status.

“Saturday’s attack is another one in the string of attacks and illegal actions of the PDP-led administration. The attack was unwarranted and unjustifiable. “To attack one of the offices of the opposition party, APC, where legitimate operations of the party were being undertaken is an act of fascism and totalitarianism. To the point of brigandage, the invasion of the APC centre is an assault on the APC and its entire membership across the country. It must not go unpunished,” the APC said.
“If the PDP-led government and the security agents had done due diligence and acted professionally, they would have known that the APC data centre is a legitimate operation and the staff are Nigerian youths who were left jobless by the Jonathan government.

“Apart from the Lagos centre, the operation is decentralized and similar centres are functional in about six different locations around the country.
“They chose to believe the lie that it was a warehouse belonging to one of the national leaders of the party where dangerous weapons were being kept, when in fact it is a centre for entering the data provided by the millions of Nigerians who registered as members of the party during its membership registration exercise,” the party said.
It described the invasion as another act of impunity, now a trademark of the Jonathan-led presidency which is being edged on by the hawks in the PDP.