Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt
Violence erupted yesterday at the Igwuruta axis of Ikwerre local government area of Rivers state. Angry youths protested against the seeming victory of a particular Presidential Candidate.
The were reportedly shooting sporadically and vandalizing the cars of motorists travelling along the busy Igwuruta-Elele-Airport road in Ikwerre local government area.
Trouble started when results from various polling units begsn trickling in and a particular Presidential Candidate seemed to be having an edge over a preferred candidate by the supporters of the area.
A motorist, in a trending video, said the angry youths who vandalized his front and back windscreen, front and rear lights said he ran into them on his way back from his village where he went to cast his Votes.
He said the angry youths who were shooting sporadically alleged that a prominent Politician in Ikwerre local government area carted away ballot boxes at the collation centre to frustrate the further declaration of results.
According to the traumatized vehicle owner: “I was just coming back from where I went to cast my vote when I ran into angry youths who snatched ballot boxes when they saw that Peter Obi was winning. When I saw that they were shooting sporadically,I parked my car. But they still vandalized it. They should allow whoever is winning to win.
“I appealed to them to go after whoever carried the ballot boxes containing their votes and stop destroying cars of innocent people but to no avail.”
Asked what he wants Goverent to do,he said, “They should allow whoever is winning to win and let the votes count.”
It was later gathered that the Igwurita axis, and most areas in Ikwerre Local Government Area in the state are in deep violence attack at the time of filing this report.
When contacted on the development, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, the Spokesperson of the Rivers State Police Command said she was not aware of the incident but would find out.
At the time of filing this report about 8.46 pm the violence was ongoing, the lives and properties of travellers along the Igwuruta-Elele-Airport road were at risk.