Governor
Oshiomole has narrated how he escaped from the venue of the 2015
governorship primary of the APC, after he was held hostage for hours
during the exercise.
While speaking with journalists on Wednesday in Benin, Edo State
Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has narrated how he escaped from the Samson
Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa, venue of the 2015 governorship primary of the
All Progressives Congress, after he was held hostage for hours during
the exercise which was marred by violence.
He accused the former governor of Bayelsa State Timipre Sylva of
hijacking the primaries, and dismissed media reports that Silva emerged
as the party’s candidate. He also said the electoral process was
hijacked by thugs, allegedly supervised by the former governor, who
insisted the exercise should be conducted without accreditation.
"I was appointed with six other members from the APC to conduct
the governorship primary in Bayelsa State. The exercise took place
yesterday and, somehow, thugs took over the sports complex where the
exercise was to take place.
"They practically prevented the actual delegates from
participating and as a result, we could not proceed with the exercise.
The committee was virtually held hostage, including my humble self and,
this time, they were supervised unfortunately by one of the aspirants,
the former governor of the state, Timipre Sylva, who said to my face and
to the committee that we could not leave the venue of the conference
unless we conducted the exercise without accreditation, as prescribed by
the national secretariat."
Oshiomhole said the former governor insisted on his own position
rather than that prescribed by the national leadership of the APC.
"Whereas all the aspirants agreed with the guidelines, it was
only Sylva that did not. He rejected the mode of accreditation and chose
to accuse the national secretariat of formulating the guidelines to
frustrate his ambition.
Every effort made to reassure him and direct his attention to
the fact that same guidelines had been used (before) and that they are
standard guidelines that would be used in future elections fell on deaf
ears. I was not in a position to amend the guidelines, nor was I ready
to submit to his intimidation."
He also accused the police of compromise as Sylva insisted that the
state executive must conduct the election and not the national body.
"When it became clear that our lives were under threat, I had
to call Abuja to prevail on the Army and the Joint Task Force to provide
me with security to enable me to leave the venue because the thugs had
effectively blocked the gate under the instructions of Sylva.
"The police were compromised. It was like the police were
supervising criminals. Thugs opened the gate effortlessly; they came in
and surrounded us. A guy was caught with several accreditation cards. I
handed him over to an Assistant Inspector General of Police but the AIG
released him.
"Several people were apprehended with cloned cards, they were
handed over to the police but were curiously released by the police and
allowed them to harass and intimidate members of the committee and other
aspirants," he added.
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