THE rescheduled Bayelsa State governorship election held in seven of the eight Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state, yesterday, was marred by widespread violence, which claimed the lives of 17 people.
On the eve of the election, five people were shot dead in Ogbolomabiri, Nembe LGA, while six others were gunned down in different parts of the state yesterday.
Voting did not hold in nine units in Ekeremor, while electoral materials had not arrive Akassa Town in Brass LGA as at the time of filing this report. Election did not hold in some polling units in Nembe Bassambiri, due to heavy shooting in the area. Voting materials did not arrive Constituency 24 of South Ijaw, while materials were hijacked in Peremabiri town.
Informed sources said the dead bodies of those killed were deposited at the mortuary at Bomadi General Hospital, Delta State.
Hoodlums in Otuopoti Town snatched ballot boxes, while election did not hold in Units 24, 25,26, 27, 28 and 29 in Ward 4, Southern Ijaw LGA.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Heineken Lokpobiri, however, denied reports of death in his Ekeremor LGA.
Lokpobiri, who spoke to reporters through one of his aides, Comrade Preye Amba, debunked what he claimed was a report “by some PDP loyalists that there was heavy shooting in Ekeremor town that led to the alleged killing of two soldiers and two civilians.”
He described the reported killing of security personnel in Ekeremor as callous and wicked, saying: “Election in Ekeremor went peacefully and the resort to this by the PDP is just a way of laying the foundation to cancel the supplementary poll, so that whatever advantage it had before now would be sustained. There was no shooting whatsoever in Ekeremor.
“Rather, it was the PDP, in concert with one Major from 5 Battalion Warri that came to carry away electoral materials from Ekeremor to Egbema Angalabiri. We have it on record that the said Major is on the payroll of a known ex-militant leader who is bent on bringing down the APC in Bayelsa State. We call on the military authorities to investigate the role of the Major.
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