Edo Election: Wike Claims Police Cordon on His Hotel

Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State Governor, on Friday alleged a siege to his hotel in Benin by the police, confining his movement ahead of the governorship elections in the state today.

The governor who is in the state to monitor the election on behalf of his party said, “As the Chairman of the National Campaign Council of the PDP), I came in here with some of my colleagues; I was in the hotel. Around 2 o’clock in the afternoon, the IG called my orderly and then I spoke with the IG and he said I must leave Edo State. I said ‘for what’ He said because my being here may cause a crisis. I said how will it cause crisis. He said because I made a statement that is inflammatory. I asked which statement did I make. “That we should be extra vigilant, that people should protect their votes, what is the inflammatory statement I made”.

And maintaining that he had done nothing wrong, the governor told the IGP, he will not leave the state. He criticized the call by the IG, labelling it as “the highest level of impunity”. He disclosed as well that about 10 minutes after his frank conversation with the IG, over 300 policemen cordoned his hotel.

Wike upheld that regardless of the siege, he will not leave the state because he is the Chairman of the PDP National Campaign Council and he is not the only governor in Edo for the election.

And to buttress his point, he said “The governor of Kano is here, the governor of Imo is here, the Deputy Senate President is here, so why will you tell me to leave”.

The Edo State Police Commissioner, Johnson Kokumo said, “The police don’t have to lay siege on anyone, but the situation is that no matter the status of the citizen of Nigeria in Nigeria, we will ensure that we do all within our capacity to create a conducive atmosphere for free, fair, credible elections”.

And continuing said, “People having no business within Edo State cannot be moving from one point to another. Movement is restricted. For the purpose of this election, movement is restricted. The restriction commences from midnight to 18:00 hours tomorrow when we believe that election would have been concluded. Nobody is empowered to move about, whether you are a governor or not.”