Suspected APC thugs hijack election materials in Bayelsa

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Political thugs suspected to be supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday hijacked election materials including ballot boxes during the accreditation in the wards in Yenagoa Local Government Area, Bayelsa Central Senatorial District. It was learnt that polling units in Opolo and Yenizue-Gene areas of Yenagoa where third-term seeking Senator Emmanuel Paulker come from, were most affected. Meanwhile, the challenge of malfunctioning card readers had been reported in seven other local government areas of the state including Yenagoa, Ekeremor, Nembe, Brass, Southern Ijaw, Sagbama, Kolokuma/Opokuma, besides President Jonathan’s Ogbia. Deputy governor of the state, John Jonah, Senator Nimi Barigha Amange and the monarch of Nembe Kingdom, Edmond Daukoru, could not undergo accreditation in their polling units as the card readers rejected their PVCs. Similarly, accreditation had not commenced at Ward 4 in Brass Local Government Area as at 2:50pm on Saturday. It was gathered that the electoral officer in charge of the area substituted the names of trained ad hoc staff with the names of those who did not undergo training for the conduct of the elections. Confusion was said to have marred the accreditation exercise in Brass Ward 4, it was learnt at press time.
In Ekeremor Local Government Area, accreditation was said to have started far behind schedule, a development that resulted in “accreditation and voting at once”.