news
update
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Ekiti:Assault and arrest of
election Monitors |
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By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu
Sunday April 26,2009 |
Colleagues and compatriots,
For those interested in the future of both
electoral/police reform and freedom of
information, the unfolding developments in Ekiti
bear close monitoring.
Early yesterday afternoon, partisans of the ruling
PDP set upon several independent monitors at
the PDP gubernatorial campaign headquarters in Ado.
The victims include:
(a) Dr. Abubakar Momoh, Associate Professor of
Political Science, Lagos State University,
LASU
(b) Dr. Azeez Olaniyan, Lecturer, Department of
Political Science, Ekiti State University,
Ado-Ekiti;
(c) Wahab Oyedokun, a lawyer on the staff of the
National Human Rights Commission;
(d) Bimbo Olaniyan, Programme Officer with Action
Aid; and
(e) three other volunteers from the Committee for
the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR).
During the assault, the partisans tore the clothes
on both Dr. Momoh and Wahab. The Police
watched as they put used tyre around Wahab's neck.
He barely stepped out of the tyre just as they
crowd - under the nose of the police - were about to
douse him with an accelerant and set him on
fire.
The victims sought protection from police but were
turned away and left to publicly suffer
violence and beating. When the police eventually
decided to intervene, they arrested the
victims, not those that violated them and locked
them up in Ado.
The police claim that these Nigerians were in Ekiti
- wait for it - to undertake espionage for
foreign countries by providing information on the
Ekiti goverorship by-election! !!
All efforts to secure bail for them so far have
failed. Last night, they were briefly granted
bail to enable them get medical treatment but the
bail was promptly revoked because the police
claimed the grant of bail was not approved by a
Superior Police Officer.
Now I understand they are in the process of being
transferred to Abuja on allegations of
espionage. The Police have seized their computers.
They are accusing the victims of having used
these computers to collect and send out to foreign
countries results from the voting yesterday.
I understand meanwhile that these victims have not
been allowed access to medical attention for
the injuries suffered in the violent assault
yesterday. The detainees were on their way to
hospital last night following initial bail when they
were re-arrested and remanded back and the
original bail cancelled.
The Police operation in Ekiti is led by DIG Hamza
Amadu, a leading candidate for the office of
Deputy Inspector-General that is about to fall
vacant with the retirement of IGP, Mike Okiro.
The Police Service Commission, which is responsible
for police accountability, has a team in Ado-Ekiti,
including Commissioner Dr. Otive Igbuzor who has
tried unsuccessfully to intercede on behalf of
the victims/detainees. The National Human Rights
Commission also has a team on the ground, in
addition to several leading civil society actors.
Moments ago, the police appear to have accepted an
offer from the National Human Rights
Commission to move the victims to Abuja in a car
provided by the National Human Rights
Commission.
Chidi Anselm Odinkalu
Odinkalu posted this on the FOIcoalition Sunday April 26,2009
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