Nigeria Content Online

The headquarters of
the Delta State police command and that of the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) in Asaba were yesterday taken over by
aggrieved voters from Delta North senatorial district to protest the
alleged abduction of their returning officer at Ika North federal
constituency after last Saturday’s National Assembly election.

All activities at
the INEC office were grounded as the protesters took over the road to
the commission. The Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) left the
state last Sunday for Abuja, where he took part yesterday in a meeting
with the INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega and other state RECs.

The protesters
first stormed the police command headquarters as early as 8 am in
solidarity with the returning officer, Godwin Avioro whom they alleged
was abducted by thugs suspected to be loyal to the People’s Democratic
Party (PDP) senatorial candidate in the election, Ifeanyi Okowa and
forced him to announce the results from the constituency.

Peter Onoriode, who
spoke for the protesters, also called for the removal of the state REC,
Gabriel Ada Ogbudu, ahead of Saturday’s presidential election.

Irregularities discovered

Mr Avioro, who
narrated his ordeal to newsmen at the Delta State police command, said
he actually cancelled the results in the federal constituency based on
widespread electoral irregularities in the election.

“We notice that they have two lists, one of the list contains NYSC
members and another one was separated a day before the election and the
names of the Corps members were substituted for villagers and relatives
of the candidate contesting the election. We investigated this and
discovered the truth,” he said. “We also discovered that about 25 Corps
members protested against it and it was at the strength of this that we
felt it was necessary for another election to be conducted at Ika North
East local government.”