The crisis within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has seen a sharp escalation as police officers today sealed off the secretariat of the new Abubakar Kawu Baraje – led faction of the party.

Various stakeholders of the main party have attempted to sue for peace by negotiating with the leaders of the new faction but it seems that the new strategy is to employ force.

The faction has the support of seven state governors and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. The office is off Panama Street, Maitama, Abuja.

According to reports, efforts to speak to police spokesman, Frank Mba, on the reason for the closure are yet to be successful as he did not pick calls to his phone.

Meanwhile the Baraje led group have responded to the shutting down of their secretariat maintaining that the action which, according to them, is meant to break their spirit will fail.

In a statement released today by the faction’s National Secretary, former governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the group said the efforts of the Tukur led group to demoralize them to “is definitely off the mark.”

He said, “The whole world knows that Justice E. Chukwu of the Federal High Court, Abuja on Friday refused to grant Alhaji Bamanga Tukur’s application for an ex-parte injunction against our party’s executive. The Judge asked parties to maintain the status quo. His judgment was a reinforcement of an early order of the Lagos High Court which also asked parties to maintain the status quo. Now, should Nigerians conclude that Tukur’s interpretation of status quo is this crude display of naked power and undisguised impunity?

“We are not at all surprised at this occurrence given the fact that Tukur issued a statement on Friday evening deliberately seeking to mislead the media and the public that Justice Chukwu granted him an injunction against us. We are happy that the ever vigilant Nigerian press ignored him and his falsehood. Now, he is not only wilfully disobeying the various courts which have made pronouncements on this matter, he is spicing up his love for impunity with this reckless misuse of state power by misleading the police.

“We call for an immediate removal of the siege to our secretariat. We call on the Inspector General of police to order the immediate removal of his men from our office. Doing so, we believe, will serve the interest of justice, rule of law and democracy. Nigeria is a country ruled by law and not by might and force.

“We hasten to say that if this move is aimed at breaking our spirit, that goal is definitely off the mark. We are determined to rescue our party from the lawlessness and crass arrogance that have defined the character of the Tukur leadership since inception. Our party needs that deliverance, its members deserve the change we have brought into it,” the statement said.