Army in 24-hr lockdown of Oshiomhole’s Edo
(Nigeria) Edo North, where Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, hails from, was
under 24-hour Army lockdown, Saturday, as all the entry and exit points into
the senatorial district were sealed by soldiers till the early hours of Sunday.
Motorists and pedestrians who were caught unawares by the strange
and unannounced military lockdown were stopped from moving and unlucky ones horsewhipped
while others were made to face the indignity of being frog-jumped even late
into the night of Saturday the 28th.
While the Inspector-General of Police had announced a
restriction of movement from 8a.m., to 5p.m., on election day, motorists trapped
at a military checkpoint at Agbede, the gateway into Edo North bordering Ewu in
Edo Central told reporters that the soldiers manning the checkpoint said they
have orders to stop movement in and out of Edo North till midnight.
On his part, Governor Oshiomhole said the army has
been a huge problem as they had been used to rig for the ruling party at the
centre.
There were no fewer than twenty military checkpoints in Edo
North, there were five checkpoints at Okpella bordering Kogi State, two checkpoints
at Iyamho, which completely sealed off the Governor’s home, five points at
Auchi; another point at Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC office in Auchi, a checkpoint at Jattu junction, another
one close to the Jattu home of Philips Shaibu, the All Progressives Congress, APC House of Reps
candidate, another point at Ikabigbo, Ogbonna, Fugar, and three points at Agenebode.
There were also military checkpoints at Aviele and another one
at Agbede, bordering Edo North and Edo Central.
INEC officials were not spared a harrowing ordeal in the
hands of the soldiers as those taking materials to Ward 10, Unit 1 Iyamho were around
9:00 am, Saturday, as they were stopped by soldiers who had laid siege to the
home town of Governor Adams Oshiomhole. The INEC officials told reporters that
were forced to sit on the ground, alongside their police escort for several
hours.
They were later allowed to leave after they got calls from
their superiors. The soldiers said they were acting on strict orders from
above.
Even journalists were not spared the soldiers’ ordeal as the
INEC accreditation cards and reflective jackets were ignored while each reporter
was asked to produce his company ID cards.
Curiously, newsmen who were returning to base to file their
reports, Saturday night, and were cleared to proceed after producing their ID
cards saw only light military checkpoint at Ekpoma in Edo Central and none in
Edo South.
There were sporadic shootings by the soldiers at Okpella,
during the day and at night while PDP chieftains in Wards 6 and 8 at Okpella
disrupted the electoral process with the aid of soldiers to pave the way for
electoral malptactice.
Interestingly, the uniform worn by the soldiers at all the
checkpoints had no name tags.
Governor Adams Oshiomhole who spoke to reporters after
casting his vote at 5:58pm at Unit 1, Ward 10, Iyamho said the military
compromised and were in many cases used to chase away voters.
He said: “there are disturbing stories in many places. The
Army has been used in a very criminal way to harass, intimidate and beat up
voters in many units. For example at Fugar, our officers there were beaten up.
They were going to take them away and the people were able to resist them. They
went to another unit within the same Fugar, beat up people there, arrested the
Local Government Chairman and took him away to the barracks on the order of
General Odidi.
“In Auchi, everything was going well. They started counting
and it was clear that APC was winning the Presidency, Senate and the House of
Reps. To my surprise, the man that I respect so much, High Chief Raymond
Dokpesi who I regard as a brother brought troops to Auchi, attacked women, beat
up elderly people, attacked the electorate and disrupted elections at Auchi
once they saw that the result being announced so far favored APC and favored
Buhari.
“Dokpesi brought Army from nowhere. I don’t know when Dokpesi
became commander in chief of the Army to have such rights. You have seen me, I
am the Governor of this state and with all humility I am the number one citizen
of the state but I am abiding by the rules which say that there is restriction
of movement, that is why I am here at my polling unit. I have vehicles, I have
bodyguards, I have even ordinary people who I can carry along to anywhere but
as a leader I have to show example.
“Even when they delayed the supply of materials to 2pm, our
people waited. Now I don’t understand how Dokpesi has suddenly become an
extremist using Soldiers to hit at women, using soldiers to hit at elderly
people, using soldiers to drive away electorate so that they can write result
sheets. I am ashamed of him and I think it is a sad day for Nigeria because for
people like that, I think they have the greatest stake in democracy. I don’t
know what his contract is that he had to go this far to do this very dirty job
but I do not think it will change what God has willed.
“In Igueben, I have just been told that once they again saw
that they were losing, Tom Ikimi invited the Army and the Army responded and
they were beating up women, beating up the elderly. I emphasise women because
as you can see from here, they just sat down, they are patient, they want to
exercise their right. The men might be tired and leave but they will stay
there. The good thing is that the voters are not fighting. In all cases, I have
not heard where I am told the police are harassing people, it is the Army that
is beating people, it is the Army that Dokpesi is using.
“In Edo South we are also having all kind of stories. In
many cases, they didn’t bring result sheets. In Akoko Edo in some Units they
didn’t bring result sheet which makes voting difficult. In many areas they
refused to vote until the result sheet comes.
“In Ovia North East and Ovia South West, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion
who is a registered voter in Oredo, today he has been everywhere in ovia North
East and Ovia South West, sharing money on election day under the supervision
of the Nigeria Police. I have called the Commissioner of Police and I said, who
gave Esama Policemen to be moving from one Local Government, from one Ward to
another, from one booth to another in Ovia North East and Ovia South West.
“As the Governor of Edo State, I have chosen to be here. It
is the sensible thing to do, to obey the law. Yes, Igbinedion’s daughter may be
contesting but that does not give him the right to move around. Even the
candidate is not at liberty to move about freely. Now Igbinedion is moving
around using policemen to harass and intimidate the electorate and
surprisingly, each officer you call will say, oh I didn’t know. The policemen
attached to him, are they from Esama’s republic?
“I think it is two conclusions I have reached. First which
is very reassuring is that the Nigerian people have bought democracy, they have
internalized the values of democracy. The ordinary man and woman wants
democracy. However, the level of desperation on the part of PDP that they must
return the ruling party to power in my view is extremely worrisome because if
we wanted just continuity, we didn’t have to worry about military rule.
“Now people want to vote, they have a right to vote. It’s
clear that some INEC officers too have been compromised. As you can see, the
lady who is supposed to manage the election in this local government
disappeared, the guy who is supposed to fix the card reader was nowhere to be
found and as you can see, they would have stopped accreditation if I were not
here. Across the state, there are stories like that and it is very shameful.
“In all cases, the turnout of the electorate is very good,
people are enthusiastic. The ordinary people are not fighting, those causing
trouble are men of the Nigerian Army who are beating up people and scattering
ballot papers accompanied by chieftains of the PDP.
“INEC Officials in Orhiomwon completely compromised. No
result sheets in any polling unit in Orhiomwon and the Electoral Officer have
very silly stories to tell. Up to 11pm, 12 noon, election materials did not get
to most parts of Orhiomwon and I had to complain to INEC authorities and they
confirmed it. When they eventually brought the election materials, there were
no result sheets and you know what that means is that you can be doing whatever
you are doing, the person with the result sheet will sit somewhere and just
write the result. So whatever you think you were going to achieve with the card
reader or no card reader, they will simply write the result.
“I have been informed that Orhionwon has been cancelled
because of these malpractices and maybe some areas where there were no result
sheets we cannot certainly accept results from those areas. It’s a mixed
reaction and it is quite shameful. As a Nigerian I thought that this time
around we would say yes, we got it right but it doesn’t seem so. The Army has
been a huge problem in this process, but the cheering news is that Buhari will
still win.”
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