Posted by Amarachi on Wed 15th Jan, 2025 - tori.ng
One individual, believed to be a PDP supporter, claimed the witnesses and counsel were in a conference room at a hotel, preparing for the tribunal proceedings when the attempted arrest occurred.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State on Tuesday alleged that there were attempts by security operatives to arrest one of its star witnesses ahead of the resumption of the governorship election tribunal sitting on Wednesday.
A viral video circulating online showed the PDP’s governorship candidate, Asue Ighodalo, alongside the party’s lead counsel, Ken Mozia, and other party members, intervening as a plainclothes operative attempted to detain the witness.
The video, which surfaced late Tuesday, captured heated exchanges as party faithful tried to prevent the arrest.
One individual, believed to be a PDP supporter, claimed the witnesses and counsel were in a conference room at a hotel, preparing for the tribunal proceedings when the attempted arrest occurred.
The governorship election tribunal is set to resume on Wednesday, with the PDP presenting its case challenging the outcome of the September 21 poll.
The party alleges irregularities and is seeking to overturn the election results in favor of its candidate, Ighodalo.
The PDP chieftain said, “All of a sudden, one of the security operatives said that the EFCC want to arrest witnesses of Ighodalo who are supposed to be in court on Wednesday in the first public hearing.
“They had no papers, they had no warrant of arrest, they had nothing and they just presented an identity card. Who does that? And taking into the fact that it is like reinforcing brazen criminality
“Ighodalo was even diplomatic and he let them to understand the enormity of what they are doing. The Nigerian Security Services and the EFCC cannot be an offshoot of a political party or people who want to pervert justice. So they are doing this on the eve of the case.
“These witnesses are not on the run.There is no invitation prior to this time asking these people to report anywhere. They just came and there are three young who now went back to their vehicle and left the whole place in chaos.”
An official of the hotel believed to be owned owned by a popular politician in the state said that the operatives claimed they were on investigation and that the individual who were looking for was not a lodger in the hotel.
He said that was how they now went into the conference hall of the hotel which led to the uproar.
The Publicity Secretary of the State Caretaker Committee, Chris Nehikhare, described the act as disgraceful, noting EFCC has been unleashed on their witnesses to do the hatchet job.
He said, “It is disgraceful that Edo State government has been reduced to this. Where state powers are abused and in some cases act as the enforcement arm of the thugs.”
According to Vanguard, a state government official said that what transpired in the video had nothing to do with the state government.
The official said, “What happened had nothing to do with the state government. The PDP is bringing us into the issue but it has nothing to do with us.”
An EFCC official in reply to a text message from Vanguard, said, “I don’t think it is EFCC.”