Multiple sources within the Nigerian Army and the Akwa Ibom state police command have confirmed a high level plot to abduct the Akwa Ibom INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr Mike Igini before the governorship election of Saturday. Our reporter gathered from these competent sources that Sen. Godswill Akpabio, Nsima Ekere, and the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Zone 6 Port Harcourt, Major General Jamil Sarham, are key plotters of the planned abduction of Mr Igini.
Senator Akpabio, Igbere TV reports, has in the last two months openly complained bitterly against Igini’s continued stay in office as INEC REC. Prior to, and after he lost election to return to the senate last Saturday, Akpabio had lobbied every known influential person at INEC to facilitate the removal of Igini from the state to no avail. His effort has always met brick wall according to our sources at INEC who said Igini’s integrity has always shielded the man. Akpabio and Ekere also reportedly offered a whooping $13m bribe to INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu earlier this week to redeploy Igini, which was apparently turned down. But in what appears to be a last ditch effort, the former Senate Minority Leader is set to throw caution to the winds, engaging in a brazen abduction of the electoral officer in collaboration with a special police squad led by his cousin, Idorenyin Akpabio and some special forces from the controversial GOC Zone 6, Major General Sarham.
Senator Godswill Akpabio
“This is going to be a bloody affair and people will die in the process”, our source, a top ranking security officer said in confidence on Tuesday.
“Working with the GOC 6 Division, Major General Sarham, Akpabio, Nsima and their men have concluded plans to abduct the man (Mike Igini). Everything is in place for the abduction. The man will be taken to an unknown place and they don’t care how bloody it will be and what the media will write. What is important right now is that Igini does not remain in office as the INEC resident electoral officer to conduct Saturday’s governorship election in that state (Akwa Ibom). The plan is to have him found somewhere after the result has been announced.”
It was also gathered that Major General Sarham has not only been paid heavily by Nsima and Akpabio to execute the sinister plot before Saturday, but has also been promised the office of Chief of Army Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari as compensation for this collaboration.
“General Sarham is working both for his money and for the office of Chief of Army Staff to the president as promised him by Akpabio”, our reporter was told in confidence.
Igbere TV recalls that Akpabio was accused of abducting the INEC EO and Returning Officers who were deployed to Ikot Ekpene and Essien Udim two weeks ago during the presidential and senatorial election in which he lost. It took the intervention of Mr Mike Igini and some security officers for the officers to be released the following day. They confessed upon their release that during their abduction, they were forced to manipulate ballot figures at gun point to favour Akpabio. The outrageous 105,555 votes from little over 14,000 recorded accredited voters were screened out by the INEC REC, Igini and the correct scores recorded accordingly. Akpabio lost the election to Engr. Chris Ekong of the Peoples Democratic Party.
In separate post-election reports, multiple groups of international observer missions indicted Akpabio accusing him of hijacking materials and also kidnapping electoral officers who were on assignment in his senatorial district.
According to Ms Mphoentle Keitseng, a South African leader of the Pan African Women Project, an international observer mission, “Godswill Akpabio and his gang of thugs on Sunday took their bestiality to another level when they ambushed and attacked foreign observers who visited Essien Udim local government…and prevented access to the collation venue where Akpabio held the INEC officials hostage for more than 5 hours.”
Ms Keitseng added that “having chased away observers and journalists, Akpabio had a field day doctoring the ballot papers and inflating the results in his favour.”
She said “even though the accredited voters were not up to 20,000, Akpabio dubiously allocated 60,000 votes to himself and allowed only 3,000 to go in favour of his rival, Chris Ekpenyong.”
The planned kidnap of Mr Igini, if successful, will not be the first time Godswill Akpabio will be engaging in a brazen illegality with the support of security agents. A report of Saturday’s election by the Centre for Credible Leadership and Citizenship Awareness said that “in the full glare of the military and the IGP squad of the Nigerian Police, hoodlums loyal to Senator Godswill Akpabio assaulted foreign and domestic observers in Ukana, Essien Udim LGA, ceasing and destroying their phones and other personal effects”. According to the report, the gory attack by Akpabio left some of the observers in the hospital.
Yet the Civil Society Organisation also reported Akpabio’s penchant for violence as exhibited in the Presidential election.
In their report, the CSO noted that “In Ikot Ekpene, thugs of Sen. Godswill Akpabio, in liaison of military and police officers, attacked observers and INEC staff and took over collation centres, preventing other political party agents from having access to the collation centres.”
Igbere TV will keep an eye on the development and bring you updates as events unfold.
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