The Edo State Governor,
Adams Oshiomhole, on Wednesday, narrated how he escaped from the Samson Siasia
Stadium, Yenagoa, venue of the 2015 governorship primary of the All
Progressives Congress, after he was held hostage for hours during the exercise
which was marred by violence.
Oshiomhole, who spoke
with journalists on Wednesday, however, accused a former governor of Bayelsa
State and chieftain of the APC, Mr. Timipre Sylva, of hijacking the primary.
He also dismissed media
reports that the party’s primary held and that Silva emerged as the party’s
candidate.
The governor said the
electoral process was hijacked by thugs, allegedly supervised by the former
governor, who insisted the exercise should be conducted without accreditation.
He said, “I was
appointed with six other members from the APC to conduct the governorship
primary in Bayelsa State. The exercise took place yesterday and, somehow, thugs
took over the sports complex where the exercise was to take place.
“They practically
prevented the actual delegates from participating and as a result, we could not
proceed with the exercise. The committee was virtually held hostage, including
my humble self and, this time, they were supervised unfortunately by one of the
aspirants, the former governor of the state, Timipre Sylva, who said to my face
and to the committee that we could not leave the venue of the conference unless
we conducted the exercise without accreditation, as prescribed by the national
secretariat.”
Oshiomhole wondered why
the former governor insisted on his own position rather than that prescribed by
the national leadership of the APC.
He said, “Whereas all
the aspirants agreed with the guidelines, it was only Sylva that did not. He
rejected the mode of accreditation and chose to accuse the national secretariat
of formulating the guidelines to frustrate his ambition.
“Every effort made to
reassure him and direct his attention to the fact that same guidelines had been
used (before) and that they are standard guidelines that would be used in
future elections fell on deaf ears.”
Oshiomhole quoted Sylva
to have said, “We cannot leave the place unless we are ready to conduct the
election without recourse to accreditation – as stipulated by the party.”
The governor, however,
maintained that, “I was not in a position to amend the guidelines, nor was I
ready to submit to his intimidation.”
He said it became clear
to him that he (Sylva) had mobilised thugs in collusion with the police, and
that the thugs found their way into the stadium – without accreditation.
Oshiomhole added that
the thugs “insisted that we must conduct the election based on their own
rules.”
He also accused the
police of compromise as Sylva insisted that the state executive must conduct
the election and not the national body.
“When it became clear
that our lives were under threat, I had to call Abuja to prevail on the Army
and the Joint Task Force to provide me with security to enable me to leave the
venue because the thugs had effectively blocked the gate under the instructions
of Sylva.
“The police were
compromised. It was like the police were supervising criminals. Thugs opened
the gate effortlessly; they came in and surrounded us. A guy was caught with
several accreditation cards. I handed him over to an Assistant Inspector
General of Police but the AIG released him.
“Several people were
apprehended with cloned cards, they were handed over to the police but were
curiously released by the police and allowed them to harass and intimidate
members of the committee and other aspirants,” he added.
Oshiomhole said he had
since forwarded the report of the event to the national secretariat of the
party, adding that he believed that the party would fix a new date for a proper
accreditation and fresh conduct of the primary.
Efforts made to reach
Sylva for his response to the allegations raised by the governor against him
were not successful. His mobile phone line as of 7.15pm on Wednesday indicated
that it was switched off.
Also, calls to the
Media Adviser to Sylva, Mr. Doifie Ola, did not connect.
When contacted,
spokesperson for the Bayelsa State Police Command, Mr. Asinim Butswat, said it
was not true that the police colluded with thugs to scuttle the primary.
Butswat said the police
prevented unauthorised persons from entering the stadium venue of the exercise.
“Nothing of such
happened. The police provided effective security during the primary. The police
ensured that people who were not authorised to be at the event were prevented
from entering the venue.
“Police did not collude
with any thugs,” he stated.
-Punch
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