Political thugs stormed the All Progressives Congress (APC) secretariat in Ondo on Sunday and disrupted the collation and announcement of results from last Saturday’s primary elections for House of Representatives aspirants on the party’s platform.
PrimeTimes Nigeria understands that the thugs, suspected to be loyal to some disqualified aspirants, temporarily halted proceedings at the APC secretariat in Akure, the state capital.
As a result of the attack, the APC chairman in Ondo, Kolawole Babatunde, alongside party executives, electoral officials, delegates, and supporters, were said to have exited the venue through the back door as tension escalated.
Security operatives at the venue also 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.
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 as reported by Channels TV.
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.