ABUJA (Reuters) - Troops have intercepted a truck-load of already completed ballots the day before Nigeria's presidential election, the opposition said on Friday, heightening fears the vote will be rigged.



The accusation followed widespread abuses and violence in regional elections last week which handed the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) a landslide and prompted opposition parties to declare no confidence in the electoral commission.

"Soldiers in Kaduna have intercepted a truck-load of ballot papers, all already thumb-printed for the PDP ahead of Saturday's elections," said Lai Mohammed of the opposition Action Congress, adding that the ballots were being held at a barracks in the town of Kawo, in northern Kaduna state.

Spokesmen for the military and the electoral commission said they had no information.

The election is intended to mark a big step forward for democracy in Africa's most populous nation, ushering in the first handover from one elected president to another in a country scarred by three decades of military government.

But observers witnessed every form of rigging at the regional poll last Saturday, and said many of the results did not reflect the will of the people.

In a nationwide address on Friday, President Olusegun Obasanjo conceded the first election was flawed, but told aggrieved losers to seek redress through the legal system.

The former military ruler said there was no alternative to democracy, which returned to Nigeria in 1999.

"Let us continue to improve on the structure and the house rather than pull it down because it is leaking in part."




THEY ARE TWO VERSIONS OF THE STORY, HERE IS FROM LOCAL SOURCE:



Soldiers intercept truckload of ballot papers
By Segun Olatunji, Kaduna
Published: Friday, 20 Apr 2007
The One Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, on Thursday apprehended and detained a trailer alleged to be carrying ballot boxes and other electoral materials for Saturday‘s presidential and National Assembly elections.

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Nigerian Soldiers

The vehicle, with registration number AA765 FKA, and about 20 passengers were still being held as at 8pm at the Army barracks in Kawo, on Zaria-Kaduna Expressway.

Attempts by journalists to move closer to the trailer to ascertain the goods were resisted by heavily armed military personnel detailed to guard it.

Also, efforts to get the comments of the Army authorities on the matter were rebuffed.

One Lt. J. Jang of the division‘s Public Relations Department only said that the matter was still being investigated.

He added that the General Officer Commanding the Division, Maj.-Gen. Lawrence Jokotola, had warned the personnel not to talk to the press on the matter.

However, from a few distance away from the trailer, it could be said that the vehicle was loaded with goods which looked like bags of grains and assorted foodstuffs.

Rumours were rife among the residents in the state capital that the intercepted trailer was conveying ballot papers and other electoral materials allegedly hidden under the bags of grains and foodstuffs.

But the Action Congress, in a statement on Thursday alleged that the seized ballot papers had been thumb-printed for the Peoples Democratic Party.

The party in the statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said, “We have said time and again that the PDP and its so-called leaders are bent on rigging themselves back to power.

“What further evidence does one need to confirm that statement?

“The thumb-printed ballot paper-filled truck that was intercepted in Kaduna is just a tip of the iceberg in the desperate scheming by the Presidency and the PDP, in collusion with INEC and the police, to rig Saturday’s poll as they willfully manipulated the state legislative and governorship elections.

“We have no confidence in the police or INEC to investigate and get to the bottom of the strange discovery in Kaduna, hence we will set in motion our own investigations and inform Nigerians accordingly.

“We have also set in motion our own machinery to expose the evil machination of the PDP, where such rears its head, before, during and after the forthcoming poll.”

Speaking on the allegation in Abuja on Thursday, INEC‘s National Commissioner in charge of Operations, Dr. Mohammed Jumare, said, “I am not aware of an incident like that. There is none of our trucks that left Abuja today for Kaduna or any part of the country for that matter. All our materials are already in the states.

”Today is Thursday. The materials will only leave for the local government areas on Friday. The claim that our truck was intercepted is a fabrication. The AC is only trying to create the impression that something is fishy in INEC.”



I HOPE WILL DO THIS ELECTION WITHOUT FURTHER VIOLENCE AND LOSS OF LIFE!

The PDP is very unpopular as we have seen from the violent protests against the last elections and all the local and international observers denounced the sharp practices of the desperate ruling party.

If 10 women got stripped to protest against PDP does not make PDP unpopular in a nation of 140M

omon:

If 10 women got stripped to protest against PDP does not make PDP unpopular in a nation of 140M

That ascertion is so ridiculous, a responsible and civilized society should react even if one woman strips. The rape on democracy we are witnessing simply takes us no where no matter what party you support. Note other parties AC and ANPP are guilty of the same offence just that that of PDP is larger because they are more widely spread.

A Nigerian Student on BBC said "the more thugs you have the more votes you have" that statement is so true and need to change. Politicians must stop dehumanizing our youths who they are exploiting to pepertrate their clandestine motives.

Well students should stop subjecting themselves to cheap price as well. the penny they are receiving today won't amount to the suffering this politicians will deal their unborn generations. people need to stop blaming PDP for all this crisis and start calling on one another to do the right thing.

@orikinla

im so suprised you can post a thing like that!
was thinking of what to say until i saw MCKREN' s post
please tell me that was a joke!
though it will be a joke in a bad taste!

@mamajama

how can we not blame PDP?
how can we call on ourselves to do the right thing?
AIT that tried what happened to them?
ours is not a civilised society, therefore civilised method will never work

the fact that this soldiers intercepted ballot paper says a lot about last saturdays election
though the story is still unconfirmed, it is still a slap on our faces as nigerians.
i admit that things are elections are never 100% fair even in the more established democratic nations,
it is still quite when we hear electoral malpratice rated as high as 90% (my own analysis)
im embarrassed!

Mamajama are you a brother to the PDP national chairman? you always fail to make sense most of the time.

The level at which some people are so far from reality is outstanding. How can anyone say the PDP is unpopular. How clueless can one get. Weather we like it or not, the PDP remains the party to beat. Buhari didn't call for a fusion of opposition parties for the fun of it.

unfortunately the opposition is in disarray, due to personal interests, and win at all costs mentality, they have failed to team up and provide a single realistic challenger to Yar'Adua, their fragmented votes will ensure that Umaru comes out on top, as long as the elections are free and fair(hope that is not a pipe dream)

This is why PDP will be back in full force. ATIKU want to save his ass and Buhari want to come to be president at all cost. can someone remind BUHARI how many times does he have to loose before he retire and give up he will never rule Nigeria again. Election malpractice has been going on for years in Nigeria I am not sure Way so many people are finding this Alarming. when SHAGARI and NPN was rigging the election in 79 what happened?

dude maybe you haven't been reading the reports, this is the most brazen out of hand rigging imaginable, more votes being declared than registered voters!! in a state where no electoral materials went out!! this rigging is extreme and absolutely unacceptable, we will not stand for it. even INEC has grudgingly admitted as such with the so called 'by elections' in edo, enugu, ondo and 3 other states.

anyways, the personal ambitions of Atiku and Buhari have made them toothless dogs, they will simply decimate the northern vote, and Yar'Adua will sweep the south, leading to his victory

viee:
ABUJA (Reuters) - Troops have intercepted a truck-load of already completed ballots the day before Nigeria's presidential election, the opposition said on Friday, heightening fears the vote will be rigged.



The accusation followed widespread abuses and violence in regional elections last week which handed the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) a landslide and prompted opposition parties to declare no confidence in the electoral commission.

"Soldiers in Kaduna have intercepted a truck-load of ballot papers, all already thumb-printed for the PDP ahead of Saturday's elections," said Lai Mohammed of the opposition Action Congress, adding that the ballots were being held at a barracks in the town of Kawo, in northern Kaduna state.

Spokesmen for the military and the electoral commission said they had no information.

The election is intended to mark a big step forward for democracy in Africa's most populous nation, ushering in the first handover from one elected president to another in a country scarred by three decades of military government.

But observers witnessed every form of rigging at the regional poll last Saturday, and said many of the results did not reflect the will of the people.

In a nationwide address on Friday, President Olusegun Obasanjo conceded the first election was flawed, but told aggrieved losers to seek redress through the legal system.

The former military ruler said there was no alternative to democracy, which returned to Nigeria in 1999.

"Let us continue to improve on the structure and the house rather than pull it down because it is leaking in part."




THEY ARE TWO VERSIONS OF THE STORY, HERE IS FROM LOCAL SOURCE:



Soldiers intercept truckload of ballot papers
By Segun Olatunji, Kaduna
Published: Friday, 20 Apr 2007
The One Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna, on Thursday apprehended and detained a trailer alleged to be carrying ballot boxes and other electoral materials for Saturday‘s presidential and National Assembly elections.

Skip to next paragraph

File
Nigerian Soldiers

The vehicle, with registration number AA765 FKA, and about 20 passengers were still being held as at 8pm at the Army barracks in Kawo, on Zaria-Kaduna Expressway.

Attempts by journalists to move closer to the trailer to ascertain the goods were resisted by heavily armed military personnel detailed to guard it.

Also, efforts to get the comments of the Army authorities on the matter were rebuffed.

One Lt. J. Jang of the division‘s Public Relations Department only said that the matter was still being investigated.

He added that the General Officer Commanding the Division, Maj.-Gen. Lawrence Jokotola, had warned the personnel not to talk to the press on the matter.

However, from a few distance away from the trailer, it could be said that the vehicle was loaded with goods which looked like bags of grains and assorted foodstuffs.

Rumours were rife among the residents in the state capital that the intercepted trailer was conveying ballot papers and other electoral materials allegedly hidden under the bags of grains and foodstuffs.

But the Action Congress, in a statement on Thursday alleged that the seized ballot papers had been thumb-printed for the Peoples Democratic Party.

The party in the statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said, “We have said time and again that the PDP and its so-called leaders are bent on rigging themselves back to power.

“What further evidence does one need to confirm that statement?

“The thumb-printed ballot paper-filled truck that was intercepted in Kaduna is just a tip of the iceberg in the desperate scheming by the Presidency and the PDP, in collusion with INEC and the police, to rig Saturday’s poll as they willfully manipulated the state legislative and governorship elections.

“We have no confidence in the police or INEC to investigate and get to the bottom of the strange discovery in Kaduna, hence we will set in motion our own investigations and inform Nigerians accordingly.

“We have also set in motion our own machinery to expose the evil machination of the PDP, where such rears its head, before, during and after the forthcoming poll.”

Speaking on the allegation in Abuja on Thursday, INEC‘s National Commissioner in charge of Operations, Dr. Mohammed Jumare, said, “I am not aware of an incident like that. There is none of our trucks that left Abuja today for Kaduna or any part of the country for that matter. All our materials are already in the states.

”Today is Thursday. The materials will only leave for the local government areas on Friday. The claim that our truck was intercepted is a fabrication. The AC is only trying to create the impression that something is fishy in INEC.”



I HOPE WILL DO THIS ELECTION WITHOUT FURTHER VIOLENCE AND LOSS OF LIFE!