“I have just been told our state agents have been arrested for no just cause and a flimsy excuse that he was training thugs. The thugs were not arrested but he was arrested in his house at 5:30am. What is the basis? I have been told the IG of Police directed that these people be arrested."
Samuel Ortom, Governor of Benue State, says he was told that Muhammed Adamu, Inspector General of Police (IGP), directed the arrest of an agent of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State.
He said this while fielding questions from journalists after casting his vote in the presidential and National Assembly elections.
He said: “I have just been told our state agents have been arrested for no just cause and a flimsy excuse that he was training thugs. The thugs were not arrested but he was arrested in his house at 5:30am.
"What is the basis? I have been told the IG of Police directed that these people be arrested. There is a special team, despite the fact that there are Commissioners of Police for the purpose of monitoring elections.”
He, however, expressed faith in the conduct of the election.
“You can see the enthusiasm from the people. The people came out in their numbers to exercise their franchise and I am very happy about this. So far, the process is very peaceful, transparent, free and fair. This is what we have been calling for.
“This is the only way we can have a Nigeria that anyone will be proud of and I look forward to other processes being free, fair and transparent. We will need to move to the collating centres and then to INEC and other stages and we expect the same thing to happen, but my fear is the intimidation from the security agencies.”
He also said Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue State are unhappy that they would not vote, while IDPs in Borno State are voting in their polling units.