Kogi Guber : Police warns against post election trouble, as protesters besiege INEC office

By Idris Ahmed

Kogi State Commissioner of Police, CP Bethrand Onuoha, has warned politicians contemplating to desist or face the full wrath of the law.

He warned trouble makers not to create problem for Kogi since election had come and gone peacefully.

CP Onuoha handed down the warning on Wednesday, after some suspected party supporters staged a protest at the office of the independent National Electoral Commission , alleging that INEC officials collaborating with APC were tampering with the electoral materials used during the November 11 governorship election.

The Police Boss appealed to trouble makers not to create problem for the state, since election had come and gone peacefully.

“We thank God that the off-cycle Governorship election of Kogi has come and gone peacefully and we don’t expect any one to cause any problem for us.

“As security agency, we are imploring the politicians and INEC to follow the legal constitutional process, since the issues are being handled by the Election Petition Tribunal.

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“I was taken aback when some SDP protesters filed out with various placards trying to barricade the INEC office.

“I had to address them against that and urged them to go away and use the tribunal to address whatever grievances so as not to create problem for our peaceful state, ” he said.

Early morning on Wednesday some group of persons suspected to be supporters of the SDP had stormed the state office of INEC, protesting against alleged INEC’s tampering with election materials.

In a swift response, security agencies moved in on time to prevent any possible attack on the INEC Office, dispersing the protesters with tear gas and barricading the road leading to the office.

The protesters were demanding that the election materials be moved to Abuja, as they claimed that there is a shody deal between INEC and the ruling APC.

“The materials they are taking to the tribunal have already been doctored. So we are calling on INEC to take the original material to the tribunal, or we will make Kogi State ungovernable.

“We are calling on the president and also the National Chairman of INEC to ensure the doctored materials are immediately replaced with the original ones before they are presented at the tribunal. Anything other than that will be resisted,” One of the protesters told Journalists .

Contacted, the Director, Media and Publicity of the Kogi APC Governorship Campaign Council, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, dismissed the allegations as senseless and called on the authorities to call the SDP to order.

He said the APC would assess the situation and issue an official statement on it later, adding that “the SDP people know they have no evidence to back their claims. They are playing the victim, to cover their shame.”

Fanwo called on the SDP to allow the Tribunal to sit peacefully and give INEC the breathing space to do their work as required by the law.

However in statement issued by the SDP Spokesperson Mr Faruk Adejoh-Audu, disowned the protesters and branded them as Gov Yahaya Bello’s sponsored thugs.

“Over 500 persons, most of them thugs have been deployed to the INEC office in Lokoja to attack lawyers and forensic experts of the SDP, to prevent them from examining documents and materials emanating from the Kogi Nov. 11 governorship elections.

“The thugs and posters procured for them have also been detailed to attack and sack the office to ensure the materials needed for our party to prosecute its petition at the tribunal are compromised, ” Adejoh-Audu alleged.

Nevertheless, when the election petition tribunal resumed sitting on Wednesday, lead Counsel to SDP, Mr John Adele (SAN), told the Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu panel that INEC had started complying with the tribunal’s order for the release of electoral materials for their inspection.

“My Lord, INEC has started complying but only this morning some protesters barricaded the road to the commission’s office and we don’t know why, ” Adele said.

Justice Birnin-Kudu, however, urged the security operatives in the state to rise to the occasion and ensure that the INEC was well protected and secured.

The tribunal had on Saturday, ordered INEC to provide SDP with certified copies of required election materials to help it challenge the victory of APC at the Nov. 11 governorship election.