Romanus Ugwu, Abuja

The All Progressives Congress (APC) national chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, was conspicuously absent at the national secretariat of the ruling party on Monday despite vacating his suspension with court order from Kano State High Court.

Expectations were very high that the embattled national chairman will resume today after staying out of the secretariat almost throughout last week when the FCT High Court ordered his suspension.

Although the security agents lowered down their no-entrance order, they, in collaboration with the party’s internal security, screened and reaccredited the secretariat staff with a comprehensive list, which excluded Oshiomhole and listed the acting national secretary, Victor Giadom, as the highest-ranking officer of the party to gain entrance.

To make the accreditation clinical, cards bearing the names of the staff or media organisation for journalists were issued for easy identification.

Arriving the secretariat at exactly 10.55 am amid tight security, the entrance of the acting national secretary into the party’s complex was strictly controlled by the security officials at the main entrance where he went through routine checks.

Meanwhile, despite the controversy trailing the proposed emergency National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting slated for Tuesday, March 17, the Giadom-led NWC has started dispatching invitation letters for the meeting.

The Oshiomhole-led NWC had kicked and faulted the proposed meeting on legal and technical grounds, urging NEC members and other stakeholders to disregard the meeting.

However, a source close to the secretariat told Daily Sun that the NWC started dispatching the invitation letters from Monday, insisting that since the meeting had the endorsement of President Muhammadu Buhari, there was no looking back.

“Oshiomhole is as good as gone because the Giadom-led NWC does not only have the upper hand but has started dispatching invitation letters to the NEC members. The meeting is going on as planned next week.

“As you can see, Oshiomhole’s name is not even on the list at the entrance gate. So he cannot enter this secretariat again. With the way they are going, he is gone,” the source hinted.

The secretariat of the ruling party was like a ghost town today as major stakeholders avoided their offices, perhaps for fear of molestation by the security agents.