Some persons suspected to be political thugs allegedly linked to a disqualified All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives aspirant in Ondo state, stormed the party’s state secretariat in Akure on Sunday evening, temporarily disrupting the collation and announcement of results from last Saturday’s primary elections.
Security operatives drafted to the venue were said to have evacuated the members of the seven-man National Assembly Primary Election Committee led by Hon. Iboroma Harry Dabibi from the secretariat as a result of the attack.
The chairman of the party in the state, Kolawole Babatunde, alongside party executives, electoral officials, delegates, and supporters, were also said to have exited the venue through the back door as tension escalated.
According to eyewitnesses, the suspected thugs stormed the secretariat during the exercise and demanded that the committee chairman suspend the announcement of results.
“It was a disqualified aspirant who allegedly mobilised the thugs to the venue, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense, and people started leaving because nobody wanted the situation to degenerate into violence,” a source said.
Another eyewitness said: “They were about to announce the result for one of the federal constituencies when someone on the phone instructed that the process should be halted.
“At first, many people assumed the directive came from the governor, but later it was alleged that it originated from another influential figure within the state government.”
“They allegedly mobilised youths from different wards. They were shouting and threatening to disrupt the entire process. At some point, the environment became unsafe for many people.”
Meanwhile, the leadership of the party in the State had yet to react to the incident, as the election committee chairman later released the final results of the election in the early hours of Monday.
