Hoodlums armed with guns and machetes on Sunday morning attacked the Ogoja Local Government INEC collation centre in Cross River.

The hoodlums stormed the centre when the result of the House of Assembly election in the Ogoja constituency was being announced.

The spokesperson of the police command in Cross River, SP Irene Ugbo, who confirmed the incident, said the situation was quickly controlled.

Ms Ugbo said most of the hoodlums had been arrested and were being profiled to ascertain the level of their involvement in the attack.

The Local Government Collation Officer, Paul Bassey, who was injured during the attack and rushed to hospital, described the incident as “barbaric”.Mr Bassey said his laptop and duplicate result sheets were destroyed during the attack.

“One of my colleagues is still being treated in the theatre and I pray he comes out alive as heavy stones and planks were used on him,” he said.

The Electoral Officer for Ogoja Local Government, Peter Kolo, said the hoodlums broke security barriers at the collation centre to destroy the election results.

“As I speak with you, we have recovered all the results from both the BVAS and uploaded results in the portal, and we will soon resume announcing the results from the three remaining wards,” Mr Kolo said.

The State Constituency Collation Officer, Timothy Ellah of the University of Calabar, said he was beaten by the thugs and sustained injury.

“We have, however, recovered all the results, and we are ready to resume announcing the results,” Mr Ellah said.

INEC had already announced the election results of seven out of the 10 wards for the Ogoja Assembly seat when the hoodlums attacked the collation centre.

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested four party agents in the Ibara axis of Ogun state with hundreds of credit cards intended for vote buying.

A statement released by NDLEA did not mention the name of the political party to which the arrested party agents belong.

The chairman of the agency, Buba Marwa, has directed that they should be handed over to the police after proper documentation.

“Operatives of NDLEA on election duty stop and search, just intercepted four party agents with hundreds of money credit cards, to buy votes at Ibara housing estate, Ogun state. Each card contains 10k and activated to cash with a code.”the statement in part reads

Political thugs have disrupted elections at Omege ward in Ezza North Local government area of Ebonyi state.

Omege ward is the polling unit of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) Gubernatorial candidate in the State, Professor Ifeanyi Bernard Odoh.

According to reports, the thugs who came to the polling unit shot sporadically into the air and injured three people who are currently at the hospital.

They also destroyed electoral materials including the BVAS machine.

Mr. Nwafor Benjamin, an APGA Ward Agent for the ward described the situation as unfortunate, stressing that the development has deprived the people of the area their right to Vote.

“What happened here is very unfortunate and it has never happened in Omege ward before, our youths and the civil defense men accompanied the materials from the local government to the polling unit.

On reaching here, people were waiting for INEC to bring out the materials, unknown to us, some Ebubeagu people came down from a bike with pump action and started shooting and injured three people. One of them rushed to where INEC officials kept the materials and brought out sensitive items like the BVAS and register and started shooting to scare people away before burning the BVAS”. he said.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Ebonyi State Police Command, SP Onome Onovwakpoyeya, said electoral materials were being resent to the affected Polling Unit as the election will still be conducted there.

President Buhari has reportedly advised Nigerians to collect any money given to them by politicians to influence their votes and then go ahead to vote for their preferred candidate.

Vanguard reports that the President stated this after he cast his vote at polling unit 003, Sarkin Yara A in Daura, Katsina State.

The president, who briefly spoke to newsmen both in English and Hausa languages after casting his vote, said his administration had been preaching against vote-buying and monetization of politics, calling on politicians to desist from such acts.

“If they (politicians) still give you money, collect, but vote for your preferred candidates,”President Buhari said

Thugs have hijacked and burnt election materials for three wards in Ogbia Constituency 2 in Bayelsa State. Officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deployed to the constituency are already going back to Yenagoa as the hoodlums are on the rampage in the area.

At the time of filing this report, it appears there will be no election in Ogbia Constituency 2, as INEC officials are already heading back to Yenagoa.

Residents have taken to Facebook to complain about the election thuggery employed to disenfranchise voters.

The Rivers State Chapter of African Democratic Congress has adopted the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Tonye Cole, ahead of the Saturday governorship poll.

Nollywood actress and ADC deputy governorship candidate for Rivers State, Tonto Dikeh, made this known on her Instagram page late Thursday.

Sharing photos of her meeting with Cole, she wrote;

“Having carefully listened to the advice of elders and political leaders of Rivers State on the need for the opposition to look inwards and present a unified, competent and generally acceptable candidate with the capacity to win the March 18th gubernatorial elections, and the need for the opposition to prevent splitting its votes amongst several candidates, today we officially adopted Pastor Tonye Cole, Governorship Candidate of the All Progressive Congress Rivers State as the consensus and unifying candidate of the opposition.

“Upon his victory Tonye Cole will form a unity government comprising of the APC and other opposition parties in this alliance titled ‘Stronger Together for a United Rivers State’.

“I hereby call on all my supporters to vote for Tonye Cole of the APC this Saturday.”

Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, the Labour Party governorship candidate for Lagos State, has called on the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to call his supporters to order.

Rhodes Vivour’s call comes after thugs attacked the Labour Party’s House of Assembly candidate, Olumide Oworu and his team.

The thugs reportedly stabbed some of them and snatched their belongings just as they were about to start their rally this afternoon, March 16, in Surulere.

Olumide Oworu is contesting for the state House of Assembly ticket in Surulere against the APC candidate Desmond Elliot.

Reacting to the attack, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour wrote:

“I strongly condemn the attacks on Olumide and his team. I have repeatedly called on Governor @jidesanwooluto call his supporters to order. I take his silence to mean he approves the violence.

“Make no mistake, we will win on Saturday, and the perpetrators of this violence will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

The Deputy Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Edo State, Jarret Tenebe, was arrested by the police for undisclosed reasons.

Tenebe was arrested in his Ikabigbo home town, Etsako West local government area, allegedly on the orders of the deputy governor of Edo state, Hon Philip Shaibu.

According to the Nigerian Tribune, the Edo APC Vice Chairman, a popular mobilizer for the APC and strong loyalist of the former state governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, had allegedly in a recent video accused the deputy governor of sundry issues.

In a press conference in Benin City on Tuesday, the APC alleged that the state government planned to rig Saturday’s election, using thugs in various disguises.

The state chairman of the party, Col David Imuse (red), and the Assistant Publicity Secretary of the APC, Ofure Osehobo, both confirmed the arrest but the police are yet to respond to enquiries as the Police Public Relations Officer, Chidi Nwabuzor have not picked his calls.