The Police were yesterday invited to the Mgboko headquarters of Obingwa Local Government Area (LGA) of Abia State following tension over an alleged plot to impeach its Chairman, Ibe Nwoke.
The presence of the police operatives from the Abia State Command reportedly forced council staff to leave earlier than usual.
Obingwa is the LGA headquarters of Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, who is from the Umuobiakwa community, about 10-15 minutes drive away.
Sources within the council told our correspondent that the presence of the security operatives was connected with the power play between a group loyal to Nwoke and another group on the side of other political stakeholders in the LGA.
It was gathered that Nwoke has been under pressure after he and others withdrew from the recently concluded Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries, citing manipulation of the three-man delegates list.
The council chairman publicly denounced his membership of the PDP and declared for the Young Progressives Party (YPP) where he is seeking to represent the Osisioma/Obingwa/Ugwunagbo federal constituency in the Green Chamber of the National Assembly.
A letter that circulated on social media at weekend claimed that the LGA chair was suspended from the party by his ward chairman over anti-party activities.
But the council boss maintained that the PDP could not suspend him after he had left the party.
A source at the LGA council told our correspondent that the chairman on Monday raised the alarm about a plot to remove him from office.
The Abia State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Geoffrey Ogbonna had yet to reply to the SMS sent to his mobile number at the time of filing the report.