Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, that the Nigerian
Army lied when it testified that the election that produced Governor Nyesom Wike, was
marred by violence.
The commission alleged that the Army authorities, in a bid to discredit the outcome of
the April 11 governorship election it conducted in Rivers State, sent soldiers that gave
false evidence before the Justice Ambrosa Suleiman-led panel.
It will be recalled that sequel to an application by the All Progressives Congress, APC,
and its governorship candidate in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, the tribunal
subpoenaed the Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General T. Y. Buratai, to produce some of the
soldiers that were deployed in the state during the election, to appear and testify before
the court.
The soldiers, in their separate testimonies, told the tribunal that the election was marred
by violence and sporadic gun shots by thugs, a situation they said scared voters away.
Four of the Army officers who are all captains, Garba Sani, who was in charge of Tai
Local Government Area; Abubakar Mohammed, from Bonny Camp, Lagos; Fred Bala
from Maiduguri, and Captain Isa Almakura, told the tribunal that they led different troops
that were deployed in Rivers State during the election.
They testified that armed thugs attacked INEC officials at different local government
areas in the state and carted away election materials, stating that no election took
place at Tai LGA.
Specifically, Capt. Almakura, who covered Ikwerre LGA alongside 30 other soldiers, told
the tribunal that at a time, his team got confused by the “bombardment of phone calls”
from INEC ad-hoc staff who, he said, were shouting for help and rescue from thugs that
invaded their polling units.
“On our arrival at polling units in Osuala, Onuerelu, Omerelu and Alu, we found the INEC
ad hoc staff, mainly corps members, mercilessly beaten up by the thugs”, he added.
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