APC governor Detained ahead of Local Vote

 

Nigerian opposition party governor detained ahead of local vote

ONITSHA Nigeria (Reuters) - A Nigerian opposition governor was detained on Thursday by security forces on his way to campaign in the southwest Ekiti state before a local election this weekend, an official said.

Rotimi Amaechi, one of seven governors to defect last year from President Goodluck Jonathan's ruling party to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), was detained in neighbouring Ondo state while making his way to his airplane.

"He was stopped ... by military personnel who surrounded his convoy and said they had superior orders from above to not let him depart from that location or continue his journey," Ibim Seminitari, information commissioner for Amaechi's Rivers state told Reuters. The airplane had been impounded, she said.

"He is still at that location as I speak to you," she said.

A national police spokesman was not immediately available.

Governors are among the most powerful figures in Africa's largest oil-exporting country - some control budgets bigger than those of many African states - and their influence carries a great deal of weight in selecting presidential candidates...