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.
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.�