Just In: INEC Collation Officer Shot In Benue- Read full story

The local government collation officer for Gboko Local Government Area, Comfort Dooshima, has been shot by unknown gunmen in Makurdi, the Benue State capital. Ms Doshima, a professor and lecturer at the University of Agriculture was on her way to the INEC headquarters, Makurdi, to present results from the local government.

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She has been rushed to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital. Benue is one of five states where supplementary governorship elections were held on Saturday. The others are Sokoto, Plateau, Bauchi and Kano. In all the five states, the contest is between the APC and the PDP.

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olitical thugs have set ablaze all the election materials that should have been used for supplementary elections in Azendeshi Ward, Chito, Ukum Local Government Area of Benue State.

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A voter told SaharaReporters on phone that the materials had been kept inside a public primary school in the area but thugs gained access and set them ablaze despite the provision of security agents.

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“No election held here,” said the disappointed voter, who also couldn’t vote in the original election due to violence. “No one would have thought that despite the presence of policemen, such an act could happen. Maybe the policement should be withdrawn so we know we have no protection.”

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However, Nentawe Yilwatda, INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, said the thugs attacked the electoral officials on their way to Chito Adzendechi Council Ward, burning electoral materials in the process.

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Apart from Chito town, which is the headquarters of Azendeshi Ward and has a voting population of 13,000, elections are ongoing in 22 of the 23 local government areas where the supplementary exercise was scheduled to hold.

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There have been similar reports of violence and disruption of voting in the five states where supplementary governorship elections are holding, particularly in Kano.

Officials of Independent National Electoral Commission tries to remove sticker used during presidential polls before the gubernatorial election at a polling station in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on March 9, 2019, during voting to elect governors and lawmakers in 29 of the nation’s 36 states two weeks after presidential and national assembly elections in which Buhari was elected for a second term. – Nigerians are going to the polls for the second time in a fortnight for governorship and state assembly elections, against a backdrop of tensions and fears of violence. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP)

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