Politics
Clash between APC and PDP supporters over electoral materials leads to tension in Bayelsa
Violence is said to have broken out at the Twon-Brass jetty in the Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, less than 24 hours before the state’s governorship election on Saturday.
Tension in the area was reportedly caused by an altercation between the ruling Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress supporters over polling papers.
When the violence broke out, the Independent National Electoral Commission officers stationed in the region were attempting to discharge the votes.
The identity of the sensitive and non-sensitive electoral materials could not be verified.
There were rumours that the followers of the two parties couldn’t agree on when to hold the electoral items ahead of tomorrow’s governorship elections.
According to some reports, Bara Daniel, the chairman of the Brass LGA PDP, suffered a head injury during the ensuing altercation.
Victor Isaiah, a former council chairman, was also said to have taken part in the altercation.
APC leader Isaiah, however, denied taking part in the attack on the PDP stalwart and claimed to have intervened to defuse the situation.
According to him, the PDP leader was intimidating APC supporters since they couldn’t agree on how to protect the election supplies.
“I was really there to monitor the materials offloading process, but the PDP chairman kept making disparaging remarks which unsettled some people, but I was able to calm the situation,” the man stated.
But soon, a few soldiers stepped in and things returned to normal.
The attack on the PDP chairman of Brass Local Government Area has been vehemently denounced by Mr. Hanson Karika, the chairman of Brass Local Government Area.
In an effort to stop such violence, he urged security personnel to be vigilant.
When reached, Asinim Butswat, the Police Public Relations Officer at Bayelsa Command, stated that DIG Daniel Sokari-Pedro, the state’s chief electoral officer, would speak at a conference later today.
