21st June, 2014
A member of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Bimbo Daramola who doubles as the director-general of the Fayemi Campaign Organisation was arrested Friday night by armed soldiers in his country home in Ire, Ekiti state.
Also arrested was the commissioner for finance in the state, Dapo Kolawole. He was picked up by armed soldiers in his home town of Iloro.
Their whereabouts remain unknown, according to Alhaji Lai Mohammed, publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who raised the red flag over the role of military in Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
”The role being played by the military in the Ekiti elections gives reason for concern, because an institution that is supposed to unite Nigerians has descended into the area of partisan politics and it is now seriously undermining democracy,” Mohammed said in a statement issued this morning.
”Whoever the misguided soldiers in Ekiti are working for, they should know that their actions can only destroy the nation’s democracy. We therefore call on the military hierarchy to defend the integrity of the institution by calling the partisan soldiers in Ekiti to order before it is too late. The consequences of a rigged election in Ekiti
will reverberate far beyond the state,” Mohammed said.
Mohammed reiterated his party’s earlier warning that the APC will not accept the outcome of an election in which the military and other security agencies skewed the whole process in favour of a certain candidate, to the detriment of others.
”The APC seeks no favour from any individual or institution for Saturday’s elections. What we demand is a level playing field for all the candidates, and a conducive atmosphere for the people of Ekiti to cast their votes without harassment or intimidation,” APC said.
Update: P.M.NEWS learnt that Daramola escaped from his abductors and had since gone underground.