Inside NigeriaPolitics
Gunmen release 4 INEC Ad-hoc staff in Benue
…As the electoral body reschedules vote in some LGAs
BY DAMOLA EMMANUEL
Reprieve has come the way of four ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, abducted by rampaging political thugs during the governorship and state assembly elections in Benue State.
The Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, for the state, Dr. Yilwatda Nentawe, disclosed this in a prime time news bulletin monitored on Channels Television in Lagos.
Hoodlums had gone on rampage in some local government areas of the state, especially Mbalom ward in Gwer East Local Government Area, Yandev North ward in Gboko, where eye witnesses said they shot sporadically into the air, before burning all electoral materials,
An eye witness said the armed thugs stormed the RCM Primary School Aya where the materials were warehoused, shot into the air, before setting the materials on fire.
Impeccable sources said some yet-to-be-identified armed thugs had invaded and attacked Mbalon INEC office, destroying various electoral materials intended for use in the governorship and state assembly elections.
The chaotic situation was replicated in Yandev North ward in Gboko as well as Manger II ward at the Tarka Local Government Area of the state where the four ad-hoc INEC staff were abducted.
Though the four abducted ad-hoc staff members were released later in the day, the state REC aborted the process in the troubled areas, rescheduling the elections.
Announcing the rescheduling in Makurdi, the state capital, on Saturday, citing electoral violence, Dr. Yilwatda Nentawe listed the affected areas as: Mbalon ward in Gwer East, Yandev North ward in Gboko, and Manger ll ward in Tarka Local Government Areas of the state.
“The election in Mbalon is rescheduled because of the burning of electoral materials by thugs,” Nentawe said, “while in Yandev North and Manger II wards the elections will be rescheduled because our electoral officers were held hostage.”
However, the REC said elections would be held in the affected wards on a date to be announced by INEC.
