Posted by By Joe Effiong, Uyo on
It is not easy for ladies to open their mouth and declare that they have been raped. So when one is bold enough to make that confession, then it means her agony runneth over.
It is not easy for ladies to open their mouth and declare that they have been raped. So when one is bold enough to make that confession, then it means her agony runneth over.
That appears to be the fate of Nkoyo Edet Bassey, the Action Congress (AC) councillorship candidate for Southern Uruan Ward II of Uruan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom at the just concluded council polls.
Bassey told Sunday Sun in the party office along Ekpo Obot Street, Uyo, that her major opponent in the contest, also a woman, not only masterminded her kidnap, but organized two men who took their turns to rape her.
'When electoral materials were eventually distributed at Idu, the council headquarters, as late as 6.30pm, those belonging to our ward were taken into an Akwa Transport Company (AKBC) bus. My opponent and I entered. But instead of going to the ward for the election, they diverted the bus to Uyo and were driving through routes that I don't even know. My opponent's husband was also following us. They chased away all my supporters.
'When they eventually stopped at a location I didn't know, they pushed me out of the bus, chained me and detailed four armed thugs to guard me in the bush. It was about 2am the following day that they came back with a motorcycle; ordered me to sit on it and another man sat behind me.
'They gave the two men instruction to rape and later kill me and dump my corpse in a pool of water. It was by that pool that the raped me. But when they brought out the gun to shoot me I snatched the gun and threw it into the pool which I realized was somewhere around Ikot Akpanabia, where we have the state police headquarters.
'After depriving them of the gun they began to beat me; trying to strangle me and I screamed. Luckily for me a motorcyclist was coming along that path. He heard my voice and came to the scene. Then the two people ran away. It was this other man who took me to his place at Mbiabong. I sat there on his veranda till 5 am before I could return home."
Apart from the kidnap and rape and attempted murder, Bassey also alleged that her opponent's gang seized her two phones and also stole N350, 000 cash from her. She alleged that even on Monday, June 9, 2008, her opponent's husband was still using one of the phones seized from her, and even dared her to go to hell.
'I want AKISIEC to cancel the election in Uruan because it was conducted in Uyo."
Another tale of woe
It was a similar tale of woes by another AC councillorship candidate, Christian Titus Martin from Nnung Attai Ube Ward I of Okobo Local Government Area. While the lady said she managed to get back home early Sunday, Martin said he was only released on Monday, more than 24 hours after AKISEIC had declared his PDP opponent a winner in an election he was kidnapped, blindfolded and kept incommunicado for 48 hours.
He said his opponent similarly hijacked the bus containing electoral materials; attached the bus carrying security operatives and ordered his arrest by the thugs who took him blindfolded to a location he could not trace.
'They kept two men to guard me in the hold. When they came to release me on Monday, they blindfolded me again and dropped me at a street in Uyo.
Martin quoted the registration number of the Volvo car that brought him back.
Ironically, the two candidates said they never reported the matter to the police as at the time of narrating it to Sunday Sun. But they insisted that the election was not free and fair, as such should be cancelled.
'But AKISIEC appears not interested in such a critical assignment as none of the two wards is among where bi-election has been scheduled.
The AKISIEC Chairman, Mrs. Gloria Ukpong insists that the election was free and fair.
But the state chairman of CNPP, who is also the chairman of AC, Chief David Ekanem said there was no election in the state, and asked for the dissolution of all states electoral commissions, saying alleging that they are worse than INEC.