Leadership (Abuja)
Andrew Oota
23 February 2008
Palpable tension and uncertainty gripped residents of Makurdi, the Benue State capital, yesterday, following the arrest of the senatorial candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Alhaji Usman Abubakar, also known as Young Alhaji.
The police in Benue had, in the early hours of yesterday, declared the ANPP candidate wanted, alleging that he was involved in forgery and falsification of documents belonging to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Coming barely 24 hours to the ruling on the petition filed against the Senate president, David Mark, the arrest of the ANPP candidate came as a rude shock to many in Benue State.
Mr. Samuel Junadu, the police public relations officer, in a statement, accused Young Alhaji of refusing to honour several invitations by the command. He alleged that Young Alhaji was arrested in connection with a case of forgery, conspiracy and falsification of INEC documents in conjunction with some of the commission's officials in 2007.
The state police commissioner, Ibiyinka Kayode, who just returned from a trip, said the arrest of the ANPP candidate had become necessary following complaints by INEC that vital documents in the case (though in custody of the tribunal) had been tampered with.
Although there were speculations that the Senate president was behind the arrest of his political rival, CP Kayode denied knowledge of any form of inducement.
Abubakar had dragged Mark to the election petition tribunal sitting in Benue, praying the tribunal to nullify his (Mark's) declaration as winner of the April 21, 2007, senatorial election in Benue South-East senatorial district.
The ANPP candidate had also prayed the tribunal to declare him the winner of the election, because he won the majority votes cast in the election.
When the tribunal was about to rule on the case, a twist was introduced into it, as D.D. Dodo, counsel to Mark, filed a fresh application asking for a retrial.
According to Dodo (SAN), the application for a retrial had become necessary because some of the documents in the tribunal had been tampered with.
Many political analysts described the move as an attempt to buy time, even as Mark's application for a fresh trial was thrown out by the tribunal for lack of merit.
The tribunal, which had kept the date of judgement to itself, suddenly announced February 23, 2008, as the date for its ruling on the petition.
While the nation anxiously awaited the verdict of the tribunal, the news of the principal petitioner's arrest by the police broke yesterday.
The ANPP, in a reaction, condemned in very strong terms the action of the police in Benue State, describing it as an attempt to blackmail its senatorial candidate and intimidate him into succumbing to give up the case.
ANPP's national director of publicity, Alhaji Ibrahim Modibbo, who spoke to LEADERSHIP WEEKEND last night, said Young Alhaji was innocent of the accusation.
"We know that the PDP is desperate and can therefore resort to all forms of primitive antics to retain a seat it stole from us. This shows that the party (PDP) is in league with the Nigeria Police to intimidate and harass Young Alhaji so that he would succumb to pressure and give up the case. No amount of blackmail can make us abandon the case. We are solidly behind him," he stated.
Up until press time, armed mobile policemen were seen in patrol vehicles, going round strategic places in the town, while some detachments were deployed to strategic points.
Although there were no reports of violence in any part of the state, it was gathered that tension has enveloped the entire city. Residents were seen discussing the arrest of Young Alhaji and the likely outcome of the tribunal's verdict today.
Latest reports from Makurdi last night indicated that the police have also arrested five officials of INEC in connection with the documents allegedly tampered with.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Leadership. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
