Oshiomhole decries politically motivated arrests

Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has decried the rise in politically motivated arrests in the state. He accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of undermining the frontline candidates of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

He spoke at the opening of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Benin Branch week in Benin, the state capital.

The governor said in spite of the declaration by President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure free and fair elections, recent cases of assassination and politically-motivated arrests cast doubt on his promise.

He alluded to the recent assassination attempt on Senator Ehigie Uzamere, the ACN senatorial candidate in Edo South, in which his police orderly was killed; the invitation by the police of Domingo Obende to appear in Abuja and the arrest of an ACN chieftain, Francis Inegbeniki.

Oshiomhole said it was clear that the stage is being set to stifle the ACN.

He condemned the new amendment to the Electoral Law which has taken away the power of the courts to declare a winner in case of dispute. Oshiomhole said the recent declaration by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, that the PDP will win any rerun ordered by the courts meant that the amendment of the Electoral Law was merely in consonance with a grand script of the party to manipulate the voting process.

He said: “If they are on top of the mango tree and they want to be the only ones to shake the tree, then we are in for trouble. If the courts cannot intervene to declare a winner in case of electoral dispute, then I insist that those who engage in rigging must be dealt with.

“If we see them trying to rig, we should summarily deal with them. The election will be free and fair if we make the bold statement that election riggers will not have a field day. But if on election day, we hand over our destiny to God, rigging will be prevalent.”