Nigerian Army Told Election Tribunal No Elections Held In 4 LG In Rivers

                    

 Justice Mohammed Ambrosa-led Rivers State Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja yesterday was told by 4 army officers that elections did not hold in the four local government areas during the April 11th governorship election that saw Nyesome wike declared winner
Four army captains who led soldiers on the election day testified that there were heavy presence of armed  hoodlums at every polling station who prevented INEC official from conducting election and electorates from voting.
The witnesses were Captain Sadiq Abubakar (leader of the patrol troop in Abual/Odua)
 Captain Fred Bala (leader of the patrol troop in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni)
 Isa Al-Makura ( leader of the troop in Ikwerre) and
 Captain Jeremiah Salihu (leader of the troop in Gokana)


Captain Al-Makura,  who patrolled Ikwerre Local Government Area with 30 soldiers, said to the Tribunal, he visited all parts of the area, such as Omerelu, Ubima, Apani, Alu, Ozuaha and Isokpo?, the local government headquarters, and never noticed anywhere voting took place on the election day.

He said:“In Ozuaha, roads were barricaded and on sighting our patrol vehicles the hoodlums who mounted the barricade ran into the bush. We received calls and on getting to some polling units, the INEC ad hoc staff told us that some hoodlums came and beat them, collected electoral materials and ran away. I never saw any electioneering taking place in any of the wards.“That same day, we started hearing gunshots in the town. I had to move my men to see if we could arrest those who were firing the shots. At Okiri Street to be precise, we picked 13 shells on the ground.“In the morning of the election, there were still gunshots at the local government headquarters. There was distribution of electoral materials at the INEC office but I can tell you that before they got to their destinations they were hijacked.”

Captain Salihu, the second witness, told the tribunal about the breakdown of law and order in Gokana, a situation that necessitated the deployment of Armoured Personnel Carriers from Mopol 56, Sakpenwa to the flashpoints.
“I was at the INEC office in the morning when they brought the election materials and the armed men came and started shooting. I did not respond to the shooting because of collateral damage, “In the course of my patrol, I received a call from a primary school in Mogoh. On getting there, there was shooting from across the fence. We responded and the shooters were shooting as they withdrew. We were able to pull out the INEC permanent and ad hoc staff and took them to INEC office,”

Captain Bala said he had been in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni? Local Government Area since January because of incessant cult activities in the area. He said election materials were hijacked from INEC ad-hoc staff shortly after they were disbursed at the INEC office at the council headquarters in Omoku on the day before the election.

“That same day, we started hearing gunshots in the town. I had to move my men to see if we could arrest those who were firing. At Okiri Street to be precise, we picked 13 shells on the ground.In the morning of the election day, there were still gun shots at the Local Government headquarters. There was distribution of electoral materials at the INEC office, but I can tell you that before they got to their destinations they were hijacked,” Bala, attached to the 101 Battalion in Giwa Barracks, Maiduguri, Borno State told the tribunal.he said.

Captain Abubakar said he led a team of 20 soldiers to patrol Abua/Odual during the election. He said he received many calls from people about incidents of election materials theft from various polling units.

“I received calls from INEC staff that their electoral materials had been hijacked by hoodlums. We kept receiving such calls and we tried our best to retrieve the materials but we could not. We received distress call from Okana. Close to their town hall, we rescued some indigenes, and we took ?them to police station for safekeeping,” Abubakar said.

The army captains who were eye witnesses, having served as commanders, were in agreement over uncontrollable violence, snatching of electoral materials, intimidation and absence of proper election.