Violence, ballot snatching mar Rivers election

Violence and ballot snatching marred yesterday’s legislative rerun elections in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Some officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were reportedly kidnapped as gun shots were heard despite heavy presence of security personnel deployed for the polls.

Our correspondent gathered that over 70 persons suspected to be party agents were arrested by security agencies for various offences.

Some suspected party agents were arrested at Ward 14, in Igbodo town, for hijacking and thumb-printing of election materials. The suspects were detained at the Divisional Police Headquarters in Okehi, Etche.

It was gathered that some female police personnel deployed for the exercise were abducted by youths and later rescued by security agents in the bush.

The suspected thugs were intercepted in three 18 seater buses and two taxis. It was alleged that the suspects were contracted and taken to Etche for the election from other local governments.

Before the commencement of the election, there were heavy shootings at Ulakwo town, close to the house of chieftains of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP. A party agent was said to have sustained cuts in the head.

Ballot boxes and other election materials were reportedly snatched by hoodlums at Ward 9, Units 8, 12 and 20.

The acting Commissioner of Police in the state, DCP Ahmed Magaji, who paraded the suspects before journalists said the police had commenced investigation into events that led to the arrest of the youths.

However, the state INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Elder Aniedi Ikoiwak, expressed satisfaction with the rerun elections in Etche LGA.

Ikoiwak, who spoke at Ulakwo town in Etche, said the areas where ballot boxes and papers were snatched by hoodlums would be cancelled.

He commended security agencies that participated in the elections for their conducts. It would be recalled that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) earlier announced boycott of the February 25, outstanding rerun elections in Etche LGA, on security reasons.

The NYSC, during a stakeholders’ meeting at the Police Command Headquarters, announced that Corps members would not participate in the elections. The state coordinator of NYSC, Omotayo Adewoye, stated at the meeting that the NYSC management took into cognizance violence that had characterized previous elections in the state, which he noted had claimed the life of a corps member.