Olayinka Braimoh, governorship candidate of Action Alliance (AA) in Kogi State, has revealed why he was detained by the police through out the voting period on Saturday.
Braimoh was detained alongside his security and personal aides, saying he was arrested because some leftover ballot paper samples, used for voter education, were found in the trunk of one of his vehicles.
He said, “I have been kept in custody for almost the whole day today. I was coming in from Lokoja early hours of today and we got stuck in the traffic at Kabba junction after Obajana.”
“There were several hundred trucks on the road, so we could not manoeuvre our way to come out of that place fast.
“Eventually, we were able to get out of there. So we got to the first checkpoint around Okeboko, our vehicle was searched, nothing was found. We were not carrying cash.
“After that, we were released and the next thing we saw was this bus overtook us and went ahead to wait at the next checkpoint.
“EFCC operatives came out from the bus with some policemen and the next thing was they searched again and they saw the leftover of our flyers in the trunk of the trucks.
“The next thing was they said we were carrying ballot papers. That was ridiculous because it is clearly stated here that this is a ballot paper sample.
“They took us to the area command and we were all locked up. Both the police and every personnel, they pushed us inside the cell and locked us up inside the cell. They collected our phones and kept us incommunicado for most part of today.
“So I don’t have any information, as I speak to you, regarding the election today until I get the feedback because my phones were collected and my batteries went flat. So, I will need to get an update before I can make any comment about the election.”
