Just In : Armed hoodluns invade Polling Units, voter reportedly shot dead
The ongoing election has reportedly turned bloody in Kogi State as a young man simply identified as Akayama was shot dead by thugs who invaded a polling booth at Anyigba, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state today.
According to reports, the thugs stormed the polling unit at about 11am with heavy arms to cart away electoral materials during which the boy was killed.
The thugs reportedly took over the town, shooting sporadically and carting away electoral materials from different polling units.
Sources said the deceased is a graduate of Economics from the Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba.
According to The Daily Trust, some thugs chased away voters from polling units at Dekina, Agbeji, Ajiolo, Abejukolo and Ejule communities in the state.
The newspaper reported that Usman Adejo, a resident of Abocho said the thugs announced their presence at about 8pm on Friday, with sporadic shootings
“We stayed indoors for fears of stray bullets. After about two hours of shooting, the sound died down and that was when military men came to the town around 11pm,” Adejo said.
“Nothing has been heard this morning yet. But people are scared of coming out to go for accreditation and voting,” he had earlier said.
It was gathered that it was when the detachment of soldiers stationed at Ejule, a flash point in the east of Kogi got winds of the shooting incident that they rushed to the communities.
Residents of Agojeju- Ejule community also said that political thugs invaded the town on Saturday morning, shooting sporadically to scare them away from coming out to vote.
However, the chairman of Kogi East Neighborhood Watch (KEWN), a community policing outfit, Surgeon Commodore Ahmed Abdullahi (rtd), appealed to the politicians in the areas to call their supporters to order to ensure a free and fair election.
He said the communities of Kogi east had got enough of electoral violence in the past which had brought sorrow and pains to the inhabitants.
“Let us speak a better narrative this time around. Call your supporters to order for a peaceful election,” Commodore Abdullahi said.
Of press time, the state police command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP William Aya, was yet to issue an official statement on the incident.
