Heavily-armed suspected political thugs on Wednesday invaded venue of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primaries for Aniocha/Oshimili House of Representatives.
It was gathered that the primaries held at Cenotaph along Okpanam road in Asaba with a large capacity crowd of people was disrupted by the thugs after delegates had finished casting their votes.
The exercise turned chaotic after unsuspecting thugs allegedly hired by one of the aspirants (name withheld) invaded the venue, shootings sporadically into air despite the presence of security men and chased away the agents.
Among those jostling for the PDP sole ticket were: Goodwin Ndudi Elumelu, two time House of Representatives member, Joan Onyemaochi Mrakpor currently representing Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Consistency, Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Chief Peter Nwonsayan.
It was gathered problem began during the counting when the results was going in favour of one of the aspirants.
A delegate, who spoke to journalists on the condition of anonymity said, “The fight was between Mrakpor and Elumelu and the winning table was going in favour of the latter when the thugs invaded the venue with gun shootings and dispersed people.”
Some supporters of the party including journalists, who took to their heels during the incident, sustained injuries as they fell into potholes and stones after scaling the venue fence for safety.
Though, the police responded immediately, but they were over powered by the thugs numbering over fifty and alleged to be senior cultists hired from Benin City Edo state and Ibusa near Asaba.
But speaking to journalists, the state Commissioner of Police, Mustafa Muhammad, confirmed that six persons were arrested.
He added that “we will ensure perpetrators are brought to book, whoever involved will face the law, and the suspects will be charged to court”
Chieftains of the party immediately disappeared from the scene while the party agents declined comments when journalists approached them.
Unconfirmed Sources said Mrs Mrakpor had three years ago allegedly created similar problem during primaries,a situation it ended in crisis, and was later declared a winner.
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