The Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, has condemned the alleged shooting incident at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governorship Primaries in Lokoja on Wednesday morning. The Governor who is the leader of the ruling party of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, described the shooting incident as sad and unfortunate.
As we reported earlier, some gunmen were reported to have invaded the venue of the PDP Governorship primaries in Lokoja Confluence Stadium where they shot sporadically to disrupt the process.
According to reports, voting had ended and the sorting of votes were going on when the gunmen came to the venue at about 1:45 a.m. and started shooting from different directions.
The News Agency of Nigeria reported that votes in eight out of the 10 ballot boxes had already been counted and sorted before the disruption by the gunmen.
Aspirants, delegates and others scampered for safety while the number of casualties is yet to be ascertained as at the time of filing this report.
Governor Ahmadu Fintiri of Adamawa, the Chairman of the Electoral Committee, was one of those who escaped from the venue.
‘Sad, unfortunate’
In a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Muhammed Onogwu, the governor directed security agents to get to the root of the matter.
“Bello who expressed his disappointment with the unholy development stated that such dastardly acts (shooting incident) were an affront to the security of lives and property which are the primary achievement of his administration and the one thing Kogites have come to take for granted in recent times.
“The governor remonstrated with the opposition PDP for failing to keep the law, especially as the rival All Progressives Congress (APC) which is the governor’s party had demonstrated less than a week ago that such events can hold without unwelcome incidents of any kind.
“The Kogi State helmsman who said details of the shooting were still sketchy noted that the gunfire incident may not be unconnected with the usual do-or-die politics of some of the opposition aspirants whose desperation to win at all costs has led to so violence and crises in the state, including this one.
“The governor directed the security agencies to get to the roots of the matter immediately, declaring that it portended grave danger to the state’s gubernatorial elections scheduled for November 16. He promised to update the public as soon as he has been fully briefed by the law enforcement agencies,” the statement read.