…accuses police of partiality, lists conditions to sign pact
…detained PDP chieftains arraigned on trumped-up charges in Abuja Magistrate Court
…Edo women protest against police bias, partiality
The signing of the Peace Accord for the September 21, 2024 governorship election in Edo State was nearly thrown into disarray on Thursday as the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) declined to sign, accusing the agency responsible for enforcing the accord, the police, of partiality.
The peace pact was, however, signed by 17 political parties and their candidates at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub in Benin City, the Edo State capital, chaired by former military Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, with the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, signing as witnesses.
The Peace Accord promoted by the National Peace Committee, Abubakar explained, “is a commitment to conduct election free of hate speech, threat and violence and to accept the outcome of the election to be free, fair and credible”.
The PDP said it boycotted the process over worries that the enforcement body for the Peace Accord had demonstrated bias in favour of one of the parties in the election. The party gave conditions that must be fulfilled before it would consider signing the accord, including that its members and chieftains who have been illegally arrested by the police and whisked to secret holding centres in Abuja be immediately and unconditionally released or charged to a court of competent jurisdiction.
Other conditions include the immediate redeployment of the current Edo State Commissioner of Police and the current INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner and their replacement with persons “who can exhibit fairness and balance in the performance of their functions and who do not have any links to the contending parties or vested interests in the process”; .
“the immediate recall of any external Police Team/Squad from Abuja or any other location in Nigeria currently marauding in Edo State, illegally arresting perceived political opponents and creating undue tension in the State”; and “an undertaking and commitment by the Nigeria Police and INEC to operate a level playing field without allowing themselves to become a private army at the behest of one of the contending parties”.
The State Chairman of PDP, Dr. Anthony Aziegbemi, in a statement on Thursday said it would only be unfair, unconscionable and unreasonable to request a party that is currently under a vicious attack by the opposing party, utilizing the illegal services of the police, to step forward to sign a Peace Accord.
He said the people of Edo State are well known to be peaceful and law-abiding, particularly in the conduct of elections, but that in the course of preparations for the September 21 election, “strange and disturbing new elements have been introduced in particular by a party that has apparently reached the conclusion that it cannot prevail in a free, fair and peaceful election”.
“That party and its senior officials have openly boasted about their intention to deploy ‘Federal Might’ to ensure victory despite the will or wishes of Edo people,” he said.
He cited the shooting incident that took place on the streets of Benin City on July 18, 2024, where “the said party unleashed its ‘Lions and Tigers’” in a purported attempt to enforce a court order by self-help.
“Various newspapers and electronic media carried pictures and videos of these known and identifiable gun-wielding APC thugs who marauded the streets of Benin for hours (e.g please see page 15 Vanguard Newspaper on Tuesday, July 23rd 2027) and their activities unfortunately culminated in the death of a police officer in what appeared to be a case of friendly fire.
“It must be noted that there was no evidence or record of any member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State or official of government as having participated in the unfortunate event of that said day.
“Despite this reality, however, the APC has since procured a Rogue Contingent of Policemen who have been given a lengthy list of PDP members and sympathizers and they have since in gestapo fashion embarked on surreptitious arrest of these members of the PDP, who were subsequently whisked to Abuja (or other unknown detention centres), without charge and without bringing them before any Court of Law as provided for in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“The situation has subsequently degenerated into an all-out reign of terror where members of the APC are acting as pointers for effecting the illegal arrest and rendition of the said PDP members without charge.
“This situation threatens to create unpalatable reactions as those who are being threatened may have no option but to resort to self-preservative moves creating the risk of violence, disorder and chaos when we have less than two weeks to a pivotal election,” he said.
Aziegbemi gave a list of PDP members who have been arrested without charge and remain in unlawful custody at undisclosed locations in Abuja and other places, and persons being harassed by the police to include Lucky Aidenya, Festus Unuabor, Maxwell, Francis Inegbeneki, Dr. Kelly Inedegbor, Saugie Enabulele, Festus Ovienloba, Moha Haruna, Luke Einojie, Gabriel Omhenra, Emmanuel Oroto, Noel Mathews, Amos Tom Udehagene, OsiImojire, Kingsley Osehon, Kehinde Olotu, and many more.
“We wish to state that our party and our candidates have the utmost confidence in the goodwill and peace-loving nature of Edo people and we are willing to submit ourselves to their democratic choice under a free, fair and untainted process,” Aziegbemi said.
“At present, it is clear that the basis for peace and the conduct of a peaceful election are not in place. Accordingly, once the conditions presented above have been met, we will be ready to immediately make ourselves available to sign the Peace Accord,” he said.
Meanwhile, the detained PDP members are said to be arraigned on trumped-up charges by the IGP in a distant Magistrate Court in the suburb of Abuja, far away from where the crimes were allegedly committed.
In the document, with charge No CR/DUI/714/24 and cited by our correspondent, the IGP arraigned the detained PDP chieftains in connection with the Airport Road incident of Thursday, July 18, 2024, even though there is no evidence to show that they were at the scene of the said incident.
The current Chairman of Esan West Local Government Area, Hon. Collins Aigbogun, who was recently arrested in his local council and whisked to Abuja after he had approached the police to give evidence after he was attacked and shot at, is among those said to have been arraigned by the IGP on trumped-up charges in connection to the Airport Road incident.
Others are Tom Uduaogighde Amos, Hon. Kingsley Osehon, Kehinde Olotu, Nuel Mathew, Joel Imojiere, Adeshino Aremo, Ikielea Jeo, Festus Ovienloba and Agogoh Daniel.
This is despite video evidence and a newspaper publication of the July 18 incident which clearly identified the faces of the gun-wielding thugs and members of the APC who carried out the wanton destruction of property and breach of public peace on the said date.
On Thursday, thousands of Edo women protested on the streets of Benin City against police partiality in the run-up to the governorship election, demanding the release of their husbands, children, sons and fathers who were illegally arrested and detained by the police in alleged collusion with the APC.
The protesting women marched in their numbers through major roads within the Benin metropolis, from King Square through Airport Road, among others, carrying placards with various inscriptions to register their displeasure over the partiality of the police leading to the politically motivated arrest and detention of their family members.
The protesters who were all dressed in black attire also made a stop at the Victor Uwaifo Creative Hub in Benin City, the venue for the signing of the Peace Accord for the September 21 governorship election, demanding for a free, fair and credible election in the state.
