Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has condemned the arrest and harassment of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders and supporters in the state.
After casting his vote at LGED Primary School, Ako on Saturday, Ortom condemned the arrest of the PDP central agent, Dr. Cletus Tyokyaa, a few hours to the commencement of elections.
He said that Tyokyaa’s arrest by security agencies had confirmed his earlier alarm that the All Progressives Congress (APC) leader in the state had vowed to arrest PDP chieftains as part of the plot to disrupt the elections in Benue.
Also, the deputy governor, Mr. Benson Abounu, has accused the security agencies of conniving with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad-hoc staff to frustrate the will of the people of Otukpo local government area.
Abounu told newsmen in Otukpo that election materials meant for his polling unit, Idabi in Okete council ward in Otukpo on Saturday were snatched by hoodlums.
He said that a tricycle which conveyed electoral materials to the polling unit was accosted by hoodlums who carted away with the materials to unknown destination.
According to the deputy governor, “the perpetrators were known names and the matter had been reported to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Otukpo, but he did not act swiftly to arrest the ugly situation.
‘’He did not act until the former Senate President, David Mark, spoke to the area commander, that was when both of them came to the area and this was around 2pm and the incident occurred at 8:30am.
“The polling unit which materials were carted away has 917 registered voters, and all of them were disenfranchised as a result of the electoral offences committed by the hoodlums,” he said.
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He also complained about the voting process, which he said, was terribly slow thereby keeping the electorate waiting longer than necessary, with many ending up not voting as INEC ad-hoc staff eventually closed voting by 2 pm, cutting off electorate that had been on line since morning.
He recalled the statement made by the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, when he raised the alarm that some people were trained in China on how to manipulate the Smart Card Readers so that they could be working slowly in order to disenfranchise some voters.
So, with what I saw in some polling units, I was tempted to believe that the alarm raised by Atiku had come to reality.
Mark lauded the mass turnout of voters at the election, but lamented the pockets of electoral violence recorded at Otukpo-Icho Edikwu and Ward 3 in Otukpo council.
Shortly after casting his vote at his Otukpo residence, Mark condemned the act and cautioned politicians against encouraging electoral violence of any kind even as he called on the security agencies to deal decisively with the perpetrators to serve as a deterrent to others in subsequent elections.
He advised INEC to always do the right thing by giving the electorate free, fair and credible elections, stressing that if the commission does the right thing even the losers would not complain or hold any grudge.
He observed that in Edikwu Council Ward, the ballot papers that were sent there were bad and in short supply, and there was no ink pads for thump printing, adding that at the Ward III the polling unit was moved to a new place without knowledge of the people.
Also, speaking, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Barr. Emmanuel Jime, who spoke after casting his vote at Ndabaki polling unit, North Bank in Makurdi, lamented on the issue of card readers malfunctioning in most of the polling units, which he said had made voting to commence four hours behind scheduled.
