There were sporadic gunshots at Uneme-Nekhua, Ward 1, Unit 9 in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Edo State, where the Deputy Majority Leader, House of Representatives, representing the constituency, Hon. Peter Akpatason, voted yesterday.
Addressing journalists, the visibly angry Akpatason lambasted the security personnel for not showing up on time when they were needed, saying that their delay almost led the people to resort to self-help, but he was able to calm his people down.
Akpatason, who is a member of the All Progressives Congress, said one of the known thugs hauled pebbles at the voters with the intention of discouraging them and that the pebbles eventually shattered the windscreen of his car.
“Well, I think the first thing we need to look out is the level of political consciousness in the place in terms of the turnout. It is close to 2 pm and you can see that people are still voting. We are a community that is highly politically conscious.
“It is not unusual that sometimes, people disagree, but it becomes worrisome when it’s obvious that it is politically motivated with the view to discrediting the process to create grounds for the cancellation of these genuine and legitimate results.
“This was predicted and was written all over the place that some people were planning to attack this voting centre. Right from last night, they have been hovering around everywhere; we kept vigil to make sure that the untoward didn’t happen, but eventually, some miscreants decided to be unruly to the extent that a known person resorted to throwing pebbles to disperse people who had come to vote so that they would not vote. I believe the intent was to ensure that we didn’t get maximum votes in this place or to cause chaos that could possibly lead to the discrediting of the results,” he said.
