A faction of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State has gone ahead to conduct the state congress of the party on Saturday despite an order by the Federal High Court in Owerri stopping the exercise.
Earlier in the day, over 200 operatives of the state Police Command barricaded the APC state secretariat.
But in order to beat the police security, APC members, who are not in tandem with Governor Rochas Okorocha, conducted the state congress at an undisclosed venue.
The APC state chairman, Hilary Eke, said that the idea was to ensure that security agencies who, according to him, had become partisan did not truncate the exercise.
Eke, in a telephone chat with the Punch, disclosed that over 1,500 delegates from the 305 wards of the state were electing state executive members of the party under the supervision of officials from the national secretariat and members of staff of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He said, “Over 1,500 delegates have elected the state executives.
“The venue of the congress was not disclosed because of security reasons.
“INEC officials and officials of the party from Abuja are here.
“Okorocha is not part of the congress; the delegates are the ones electing the state executive.
“The congress is very peaceful and we are working hard to make sure that the people take back Imo APC,” Eke said.
