Thread by @kemi_busari

Why i was arrested during Osun 2018 rerun

I covered the Osun 2018 rerun election in PU 1, Orolu LGA in Kajola. Police officers, soldiers and APC thugs unleashed terror in that polling unit. I was arrested but far terrible things happened.

THREAD.
#OsunDecides2022

Time was around 7.40a.m. I’d just arrived at the polling unit wearing full INEC accreditation. The commission had declared the Osun election inconclusive and the fate of the state lay in the decision of voters in 7 polling units in four LGAs.

Flashback 10 mins, individuals who identified as APC agents welcomed me & 5 other observers & promised to ‘take care’ of us. They handed N300k to one of us(an observer of a highly revered election group)to share N50k each.I rejected my ‘share’ & that was d beginning of my problem

The moment I decided to snap some pictures of the polling unit, some fierce-looking police officers rushed me, grabbed me by my trousers and dragged me to the stationed black maria. One of them,Abdul Usman, confiscated all my properties after ordering me to 'delete the pictures.'

Their leader,S Abubakar,came to question me.“You are a journalist you are supposed to know. No camera is allowed here,”he said. I told him it was against @inecnigeria's directive & dt I was only doing my job -all to deaf ears. I was later released. Now,this is where it got scary

To enter the polling unit, you have to pass through at least 15 checkpoints (no exaggeration) manned by police officers and soldiers. Only electorates, with the intention of voting for APC were allowed into the polling unit. Their voter’s cards had been collected earlier...

...so they needed to meet some APC agents to retrieve it, vote and get their palms greased (20k).I witnessed one PDP supporter plead for his life, bloodied. He was beaten by security officials for insisting on accessing the polling unit.

One was entirely stripped naked in humiliation. A few others ended up in the black maria like me, many were turned back. Final results in the polling unit, APC: 111, PDP: 3. How those 3 were able to vote still amazes me. I'd love to speak with them if they can be identified.

Now back to my experience. For hours, I couldn’t do than watch while being watched. No mobile network to communicate with my office. I’d already decided to leave the polling unit when I spotted two of my journalist colleagues @taiween & @ibrahim_adey . Some relief.

By noon, most of the expected voters had cast their votes. Emphasis on 'expected'. Gunshots, which had somehow become normal, were heard repeatedly, so we decided to leave the polling unit. Some security officers and thugs were also leaving at the time.

I saw thugs wield guns, machetes and charms, smoke hemp and threatened people but police officers looked away. One senior officer told a thug to ‘keep that thing very well’ when he (the thug)flaunted a locally made gun. That was shortly before another traumatic incident.

Halfway through the muddy path that leads to the closest road, my friend @taiween made the terrible mistake of bringing out his phone to take pictures. All hell was let loose. He was rushed immediately. This time by thugs. That moment and the minutes that followed were scary.

One of them threatened to machete Taiwo, another threatened charm. They asked us to leave and forget about the phone and they meant it.

I led d ‘beggy beggy’ team. That boy should be in his early 20s but I called him egbon. In fact,we called all of them egbon. ‘Egbon ejo ema binu. A ma delete e’ we kept saying. At this stage,leaving alive &uninjured was priority.D phone was later released & we escaped the dungeon

Some of us are alive to tell the story today, some others, including a pregnant woman, were killed. As we go to polls again tomorrow, I wish the people of my dear state the very best. May the best candidate win.

NOTE: I was asked to write about this event in 2018 but was too traumatised. Ibrahim Adeyemi has a more detailed account here: saharareporters.com/2018/10/12/rep…