A professional group, Intercontinental Leadership Initiative, has revealed how Senator Godswill Akpabio used thugs to inflict injuries on foreign observers and snatched their iPads during the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections held on Saturday.
The group also said politicians belonging to the ruling party, All Progressives Congress used the military and thugs to intimidate and deliberately disenfranchise the electorate and political opponents from other political parties.
The group in a statement made available to Igbere TV described the act as “rape on democratic tenets by desperate power mongers”.
The statement reads
“The just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections in Nigeria was characterized by planned and deliberate intimidation assault, hording, snatching, burning and destruction of ballot papers and boxes in the southern part of Nigeria; evidently in Lagos, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and some parts of Cross River States.”
“Of Noteworthy is the case of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial district where agents and thugs of Senator Godswill Akpabio a serving senator and candidate of the ruling APC.”
“After a failed attempt by falsifying result by submitting an already doctor result sheets in collaboration with the unscrupulous INEC returning officer of Essien Udim LGA.
On Sunday 25th February, 2019 a day after the elections, Senator Godswill Akpabio and his thugs in the presence of military and police officers took over the LGA collation centre preventing other political opponents and their party agents having access into the collation centre.”
“During a routine visit of collation centres by our team of foreign and domestic observers, we were dismayed by the fact that such level of breach of Democratic tenets was perpetrated against his people by a man who have in the past enjoyed their trust to lead them and should know better.”
“All this was done in the presence of security personnel.”
“When our team of observers requested access to observe the proceedings at the coalition centre according to Inec’s guidelines and mandate both foreign and domestic observers in-line with the globally acceptable best practices.”
“The thugs on the instruction of their principal descended on our team of both foreign and domestic observers, inflicting bodily injuries on some of us, snatching our phones, iPads and all our observation equipment in the open glare of all the police and military men present.”
We as civil society organization totally condemn the attack on observers, the taking over of an election collation centre by an individual and his thugs, lack of response from the security personnel thereby risking lives of observers preventing other political opponents and their agents from access into the centre.
“We hereby call on the INEC, the Nigerian government and the international community to investigate, ascertain and deal proper sanctions and punishment to the perpetrators of such undemocratic and inhumane act.”
“In the words of John Lewis,”
“When you see and experience something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something, you have to do something”.
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