The Saturday elections ended up in violence in most parts of Rivers State, as angry youths allegedly protesting against attempts to manipulate the results of the presidential election took to the streets in the late hours of the day.
The election started
peacefully in most parts of Rivers State despite the late arrival of lNEC officials and voting materials.
Most of the wards visited at the early hours of Saturday elections in Eleme and Obio/akpo local government areas witnessed residents waiting patiently for the arrival of voting materials while in some areas there were no INEC officials as of 9:48 am.
Voting commenced in ward 32 in unit 1, at 11: 23 am, and was very peaceful as residents adhered to all voting rules.
However, violence erupted in most parts of the state in the late hours of Saturday, as angry youths allegedly protesting against the alleged attempt to manipulate the results took to the streets.
According to the report, there were sporadic shootings and vandalization of properties and vehicles along the busy Igwuruta-Elele- Airport Road at the Igwuruta axis of the Ikwerre local government area.
It was gathered that trouble started when results from polling units in the area started trickling in and a particular presidential candidate seems to be having an edge over a candidate the youths claimed they voted for.
A motorist in a viral video said the angry youths vandalized the windscreen of his vehicle, as well as his front and rear lights when he ran into them on his way back from his village where he went to vote.
He said the angry youths who were shooting sporadically alleged that a prominent politician in Ikwerre local government area carted away ballot boxes at the collation center to frustrate further declaration of results.
According to the owner of the vandalized vehicle:
“I was just coming back from where I went to cast my vote when I ran into angry youths who claimed the ballot boxes in their area were snatched. When I saw that they were shooting sporadically, I parked my car. But they still vandalized it. They should allow whoever is winning to win.
“I appealed to them to go after whoever carried the ballot boxes containing their votes and stop destroying cars of innocent people but to no avail.”
It was gathered that the Igwurita axis and most areas in the Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state are reeling from violence as of the time of filing this report.
When contacted, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, the Spokesperson of the Rivers State Police Command said she was not aware of the incident, but promised to
find out.
