A nursing mother, one Mrs Margret Inya has appealed to the Chief of Army Staff to order for the release of her husband, Mr Inya Ken who was arrested at the Eke Market Polling Unit, Afikpo North local government area by some soldiers from the Nkwagu Military Cantonment and whisked away to an unknown destination.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP Sunday in Afikpo, Mrs Inya said that several hours after the husband was arrested by the soldiers, his whereabout was still unknown.
She noted that she and her husband came to the polling unit yesterday to cast their votes and few minutes later, a young man came with the soldiers and pointed at the husband and the soldiers immediately arrested him.
“I don’t know the faith of my husband now. I don’t know the physical and emotional torture he is passing through now. We came together to cast our votes and shortly after voting, a young man just came to where my husband was sitting and pointed at him, the soldiers ordered him to sit on the floor in a scorching sun for more than 30 minutes.
“After sitting on the floor, he was bundled into their van and taken away. I arrived the place and pleaded with them to tell me what he did but none of them spoke to me. Now I don’t know where they took him to.
“I don’t want to lose my husband. I’m a nursing mother and all I’m asking them is to release my husband or tell me where they took him to so that I can know his condition,” she stated.
Reacting, the All Progressives Grand Alliance candidate in the by-election, Sir Ifeanyi Eleje described the arrest as unfortunate and uncalled for adding that the soldiers were deployed to intimidate and harass innocent voters.
“Yesterday, the youth leader of Afikpo was arrested in his house by some soldiers and was later released very late. Today again, at the Eke Market Polling Unit, some soldiers also came and arrested Ken without telling us his offence.
“I came personally to ascertain his offence and they refused to inform me or even the wife. What we had is a total sham and not election. Soldiers intimidated the voters.
“This is an off-season election and we had expected a free, fair and credible election but what we witnessed was a total sham. The election falls below standards and that’s why many people didn’t come out to vote,” he stated.
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