Kwara by-election: How IGP Idris used police helicopter to ferry cash for APC – Timi Frank

Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives
Congress, APC, Comrade Timi Frank, has called on the Inspector General
of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris, to resign with immediate effect.

He accused the IGP of allegedly turning the police into the armed wing
of the ruling party.

Frank in a statement issued to DAILY POST in Abuja on Friday, said the
recent deployment and alleged use of a Police Helicopter to ferry cash
to the candidate of the APC in the Irepodun/Ekiti/Oke-Ero/Isin Federal
Constituency bye-election in Kwara South on Saturday showed how the
police is working in cohort with the leadership of the APC to
forcefully rig the elections.

It would be recalled that a police Helicopter had on Wednesday landed
at the St. Paul Primary School in Omu-Aran, Irepodun Local Government
Area of the state which is one of the LGAs where a by-election is
scheduled to take place tomorrow.

It was alleged that the police Helicopter crew on arrival at the
school were met in the field by the candidate of the APC in the
bye-election, Mr. Tunji Ajuloopin, with his Sports Utility Vehicle
(SUV). He later drove off after five huge Ghana-Must-Go bags, believed
to be stashed with cash, were off-loaded into his vehicle.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, had said the
chopper was there on "surveillance patrol and the Airlift of Police
Officers for the election."

But Frank has called on Nigerians and the members of the International
Community to note that this is not the first time the police under
Idris is playing shameful partisan roles in aiding the APC to rig
elections in the country.

"The use of the police to unduly influence the outcome of elections in
any democratic setting is unacceptable and therefore the police must
immediately purge itself of partisanship ahead of the 2019 general
elections, beginning with the urgent resignation of the IGP.

"Come to think of it, where did the IGP get the money that he sent a
police chopper to drop-off in Omu-Aran for the APC candidate? If it is
from the police budget, is that the purpose for which the money was
allocated? If it is not from the police coffers, where is the money
from?

"Is the police now the new Father Christmas in town, helping to fund
elections in parts of the country, while its personnel are obviously
lacking adequate remuneration, operational vehicles, communication,
crime detection and prevention gadgets? Or is the police taking
responsibility for the vote buying saga that has characterized recent
elections in the country?

"They did it in Ekiti, Katsina, Bauchi, and recently in Osun. The
police was established to serve and protect all Nigerians,
irrespective of race, creed or party affiliation. The police under
Idris have not only failed in their statutory duties of securing the
lives and property of Nigerians but have been turned to an armed-wing
of the ruling APC," he stated.

He called on the presidency to urgently cause the probe of the police
helicopter's suspicious movement and the source of the funds it
conveyed to the APC's candidate as a way of proving to Nigerians that
the police did not act at its behest.

He also called on Nigerians to rise and resist police harassment,
intimidation, arrest and detention of leaders of the opposition
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), ahead of the Saturday's bye-elections
in Kwara State.

He further urged the European Union, Britain, USA, Germany and
relevant Non-Governmental Organizations in the country to massively
deploy observers to monitor and ensure that the bye-election is
conducted in a free, fair and credible manner.