Soldiers intercept truck with 3,
600 ballot boxes in Ogun
 10 hours ago  News
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Army personnel attached to Ogun State special
security outfit, OP MESA, yesterday intercepted a
40-Feeter container truck laden with 3, 600 ballot
boxes and other electoral materials in the Ijebu -
Ode axis of Ogun state.
The trucks which registration number was yet to
be ascertained as at press time, were intercepted
by men of OP MESA who were on routine patrol
around 8:00a.m along Odogbolu axis in Sagamu -
Ijebu Ode - Benin expressway.
Source close to the scene where the truck was
intercepted told Daily Times that two other trucks
whose contents were suspected to be bales of
ballot paper and boxes had escaped before the
soldiers sighted the third one arrested and taken
the consignment to a special security facility to
prevent powerful Nigerians from pleading for their
release.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations
Officer (PPRO), Muyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed
the interception of the consignment, stressing
that a team of the soldiers attached to the 35
Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Abeokuta who were on
Stop-And-Search, “OP MESA” handed the truck
and its driver to the police at Ijebu Ode Area
Command when they could not ascertain the
authenticity of the ballot boxes.
Adejobi further explained that soome officials of
the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) as well as others from the Lagos Wharf
have contacted the Ogun state Police Command,
claiming that the consignment belonged to the
commission.
He said the official that contacted the command
further claimed that the 3, 600 ballot boxes were
on its way to the INEC’s Akwa Ibom office.
“As I speak with you, we have the 3, 600 ballot
boxes belonging to the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria. Information we have about
the consignment as I am talking with you now is
that some INEC officials have called and some
officials from the Lagos Wharf to confirm that the
consignment belongs to INEC and that the ballot
boxes are meant to be delivered at INEC office in
Akwa Ibom state”.
“We want to think without mincing words for now
that we cannot call the ballot boxes fake or illegal
ones.