Suspected PDP thugs snatch ballot boxes

Hoodlums believed to be agents of the Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday snatched ballot boxes at Nungudoe Itak, Ikono, in the Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.


The hoodlums, our correspondents learnt, had pretended to be engaged in a fight only to swoop on the electoral officers and snatched the ballot boxes. Some of them were also seen thumb-printing the ballot papers, allegedly in favour of the PDP candidates in the area.

According to a voter, who asked not to be named, the entire area is dominated by the All Progressives Congress. The female voter noted that accreditation of voters went on smoothly, but when the time for voting began, a certain man from the area came with the thugs and upturned the pattern the actual voting would have taken.

Meanwhile, the APC senatorial candidate for Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, Mr. Inibehe Okori, said the party’s agent in Ward 6 in the Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of the state, Mr. Charles Udoetuk, had been arrested by the police.

“The police seized Charles Udoetuk for asking questions about the election materials,” Okori said.

When contacted, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr. Gabriel Achong, said he was not aware of the arrest.

“I am not aware. I am in Uyo,” the CP said.

Our correspondents also learnt from the Oro axis that violence broke out in the early hours of Saturday following the non-availability of electoral materials in the areas.

It was learnt that some youth corps members who served as ad hoc staff for the commission were detained by some groups said to be unhappy about the non-availability of the electoral materials in the area.

Our correspondents also learnt that a member of the Labour Party, who was trying to run away with a stolen ballot box, was axed to death.

Achong said he was not also aware of the incident.

The Akwa Ibom State governor, Mr. Godswill Akpabio, had told journalists after voting in his Ward 2, Unit 009, Ukana, in the Essien Udim Local Government Area, that the use of the card readers for the elections was unnecessary.

He said that as chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Governorship Forum, he had advised against the use of the card readers but that people did not see reason with him to discontinue the process.

“My card reader did not have any issue but that of my wife did. Voter registers have all necessary information like the pictures of the voters and their names. The card reader is a duplication of the manual process,” he said.