I Deployed Drones, Cameras to Beat Rigging Plot — Senator Arise

Senator Ayo Arise has revealed that he deployed drones, surveillance cameras, and multiple agents to monitor a recent party primary, alleging a premeditated plot by the political establishment to rig him out of the contest.

Speaking in an interview with Channels Television, the lawmaker claimed that despite being an outsider to the political system, he took the extraordinary measures to make a personal contribution to the defence of Nigeria’s democracy.

Arise expressed disappointment that the party hierarchy failed to ensure a level playing field, particularly given that federal legislators are expected to work harmoniously with the President.

“The senators and the House of members will invariably work with Mr. President. So I think the minimum that the party could have done was to ensure, whatever it took from them, a free and fair election so that this type of situation that I personally experienced… I anticipated it at that moment. I knew that was their plan,” Senator Arise told Channels TV.

When asked by his interviewer if he knew he could be rigged out, Arise responded, “There was no other way anybody can defeat.”

During the riveting exchange, the interviewer probed the Senator’s political standing, suggesting that the problem was not a lack of grassroots popularity but a lack of favour with the power bloc. Arise agreed, citing a coded phrase used by the establishment to signal his exclusion.

“Not with the establishment because they kept saying this system, ‘system tigbe’  I don’t know what they call it  system in Yoruba. Of course, in English it means it’s been consumed by the system,” he stated. When the journalist offered the translation “accommodated by the system,” Arise clarified, “I wasn’t favoured by this so-called system.”

Determined to outmanoeuvre the alleged plot, the Senator explained that he transformed the election process into a digital fortress. He stated that he refused to be a passive victim and instead sought to set a democratic precedent by making electoral fraud extremely difficult.

“I just went ahead. All I can do to ensure that I make my own contribution to the development of democracy in Nigeria is to ensure that I go in there putting everything in place to ensure that rigging me out will be very difficult. So I had drones, I had cameras everywhere, and I told them,” Arise disclosed in the Channels Television segment.

When asked if he currently retains the evidence, the Senator was emphatic. “Oh yes, I had everything, every word, and I had at least a minimum of three agents monitoring that process in every ward,” he confirmed.

Confronted with the assertion that his opponent is now in trouble because of this trove of evidence, Senator Arise expressed confidence that justice would prevail. “I have, I am even expecting that the party will do what is right and announce me as the winner. There is no…” he stated before the clip ended.

Source: Channels Television YouTube Interview with Senator Ayo Arise.