Gladys Nweke
Corps members accused of rigging the presidential and national assembly elections of February 23 in Rivers State have come out to counter the claims.
There were unimpressive complaints by the public that the presidential and national assembly elections in the state were massively rigged.
A youth corps member, Tuatimi James Powell, yesterday revealed how some leaders of a certain political party in Rivers State sent thugs to force him and 10 other colleagues to a hotel in Bodo Gokana Local Government Area, Rivers State to rig the February 23 presidential and National Assembly elections at gunpoint.
Corper Powell, who was a Presiding Officer (PO) of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said he and other youth corps members had horrifying experiences in the hands of the thugs who bundled them into a waiting bus amidst sporadic gunshots and moved them to Greenside Hotel.
The youth corps member revealed that on getting to the hotel, the leaders and their thugs forced them to fill fictitious results on INEC’s result sheets forcibly taken from him and other corps members at gunpoint while also forcing them to sign the documents.
Corroborating Powell, an Assistant Presiding Officer (APO) of INEC, Michael Kponeh, disclosed that the ad-hoc staff and other officials of INEC were held hostage by the thugs in Bodo in Gokana LGA and made to do their bidding at gunpoint.
The 11 corps members were paraded along with 42 other suspects yesterday by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 6 Division, Nigerian Army, Port Harcourt, Maj.-Gen. Jamil Sarham.
The GOC, who was represented by the Garrison Commander of 6 Division Garrison, Brig.-Gen. Adeola Kalejaiye, was assisted by 6 Division’s Deputy Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Aminu Iliyasu.
Maj.-Gen. Sarham said: “On February 23, 2019, at about 1330hrs, following a tip-off, our troops deployed in Gokana general area for Operation Safe Conduct of Presidential and National Assembly elections, arrested 39 suspects, including eleven corps members and one driver, while others were Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad-hoc staff with sensitive electoral materials at Greenside Hotel in Gokana LGA of Rivers State.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects were moved to the hotel to rig the election in favour of a political party. Items recovered from the hotel were 34 ballot boxes loaded with ballot papers, three card readers, 10 bags containing electoral materials and Toyota Hiace bus, with registration number: Lagos: EQ 171 KRD.”
The GOC also said that 13 political thugs also arrested in Harris Town, Degema LGA of Rivers State ahead of last Saturday’s elections.
