Days to the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State, soldiers from the 32nd Brigade of the Nigerian Army, on Thursday, arrested a truck loaded with ballot papers, ink pads, stamps, reflective vests and a number of other election materials.
The truck, with Lagos registration number APP 952 XL, was driven by Olufemi Ose and had Segun Akanbi, whom Ose described as his conductor and Biodun Erinfolami, whom he also said was his driver-friend, onboard, with Ose saying they were travelling to Lagos.
The commander of the 32nd Artillery Brigade, Akure, Brigadier-General Aliyu Momoh, who briefed newsmen on the arrest, said his men intercepted the truck as it was being driven out of the state at about 1.30 p.m on Thursday.
He said occupants of the vehicle were not giving coherent answers to questions that related to the goods they were conveying and noted that since an election was at hand in Ekiti State, “we are here to ensure that everything goes smoothly and part of doing that is to be vigilant.”
He said some of the materials were found to be used ballot papers of 2008, 2009 and 2011, as well as rubber stamps which bear 2014.
He said his men were ready to carry out their duty of ensuring adequate security for the election and warned that they would not tolerate any unlawful act.
“You don’t need guns to vote. All you need is your voter cards and your thumbs. We will bring down anyone we find with any offensive weapon,” he said.
While explaining that “soldiers are not in Ekiti State for any political party,” he added that his men had been deployed in all parts of the state and had been properly briefed on what to do, warning that anyone who breached the peace in the course of the election would “be dealt with, no matter his status.”
Momoh said the suspects and the vehicles would be handed over to the operatives of the State Security Service (SSS), saying what the soldiers could do were preliminary investigations following which, he said, he had briefed newsmen.
The driver of the vehicle, Ose, who spoke on behalf of the other suspects, explained that he was in Ado-Ekiti as a representative of a haulage firm, pointing out that his truck was the second of such that had loaded similar materials earlier on Thursday.
According to him, he loaded the materials from INEC secretariat in Ado Ekiti, saying he was given a waybill for the cargo and he was conveying the materials to Lagos.
Reacting to the development, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Alhaji Hussaini Halilu Pai, said the materials were waste papers from their store, which the commission’s headquarters had approved for auction.
Alhaji Pai said the materials had been approved for sale by the national headquarters of INEC to a private firm since April, adding that they had only come to convey the materials on Thursday.