Less than 24 hours to Saturday’s governorship election in Bayelsa State, violence has reportedly erupted at the Twon-Brass jetty in the Brass Local Government Area of the state.
We learnt that the supporters of the All Progressives Congress and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party clashed over electoral materials meant for voting in the area.
The officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission deployed in the area were trying to offload the electoral when the violence occurred.
It could not be confirmed if the electoral materials were sensitive or non-sensitive items.
The supporters of both parties were said to have disagreed over when the electoral items would be kept ahead of tomorrow’s governorship polls.
Some sources alleged that Brass LGA PDP chairman identified as Bara Daniel was injured in the head during the scuffle that ensued.
It was also alleged that a former council chairman, Victor Isaiah, was also involved in the fracas.
Isaiah, a chieftain of the APC, however, denied involvement in the assault of the PDP stalwart, saying he intervened to diffuse the tension.
He claimed that the PDP chieftain was intimidating APC supporters in the disagreement over how to secure the electoral materials.
He said, “I was there actually to monitor the process of the materials offloading but the PDP chairman kept making derogatory statements which unsettled some people, but I was able to calm the situation.”
However, some military personnel eventually intervened and restored normalcy.
The chairman of Brass Local Government Area, Mr Hanson Karika, has strongly condemned the attack on the PDP chairman of Brass LGA.
He called on security agents to be on alert to prevent further violence.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa Command, Asinim Butswat, said the DIG in charge of election security in the state, DIG Daniel Sokari-Pedro, would address a conference at 4 pm later today.
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