Another Bloody Rivers Rerun Election: What Went Down

Soldiers and men of the Nigeria Police on
Saturday arrested as much as 63 suspected
political thugs brandishing dynamites and
cutlasses during the rerun election in Etche area
of Rivers State.
Also arrested were the Rivers State Publicity
Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr.
Samuel Nwanosike, and two former local
government caretaker committee chairmen,
identified as Odiari Princewill and Roland Sekibo.
This is just as armed youths and political thugs
working for one of the major political parties in
the state chopped off the hand of an unidentified
official of the Independent National Electoral
Commission.
The victim, said to have bled profusely as a
result of the injury, was taken to a hospital.
The incident, according to sources, happened in
Igbo-Etche community in Etche.
It was learnt that another INEC official, who was
also on duty during the poll, was abducted.
They (Nwanosike, Princewill, Sekibo and the
suspected thugs) were said to have been
arrested at Ulakwo 2 in Etche Local Government
Area.
But Nwanosike, before being taken away by
soldiers, said he was only a party agent of the
PDP in the election. He said that he did not
commit any crime.
He urged the security agents to allow the
election to end before arresting him, even as he
maintained that his arrest was unjust.
However, the suspected political thugs were led
into a waiting truck and taken away by soldiers.
Also recovered from them were five vehicles and
two containers of Tramadol, a banned drug.
Speaking on the attack on the INEC officials, the
Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state,
Mr. Aniedi Ikoiwak, who was in Etche, attributed
inconclusive elections in the state to violence
against INEC officials during elections.
“The police have just said that they have
arrested some people. They are doing their
investigations. We have asked all the officials
who were there to do their reports. Election
stands cancelled anywhere materials are
hijacked.
“In an environment like this, if we look at what
has been done and where the election has taken
place, we would say we have done well. We will
go to other polling units to see what is
happening.
“When it comes to election, our workers are
attacked all the time. We have complained about
this on several occasions to the public. What do
we do? We have to accept it and move forward,”
Ikoiwak said.
The acting Commissioner of Police in the state,
Mr. Ahmed Magaji, confirmed the arrest of 63
political thugs, adding that investigation had
commenced on the matter.
He noted that the suspects were apprehended in
a joint security stop-and-search operation
carried out in Etche.
He said, “In the course of our stop-and-search
during the rerun election in Etche, we arrested
about 63 of them. We will soon come out with
the report of our findings. We will not make any
further comments until the report of our
investigation is out.”
The election was however peaceful in major
parts of Etche, just as the exercise was marred
by the hijacking of election materials in some of
the polling units.