Alleged shooting by political thugs suspected to be loyal to the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, reportedly hindered the inspection of electoral materials used for the conduct of the just concluded off-cycle governorship election in Edo State.

It was gathered that the alleged shooting by the thugs led to the adjournment of the inspection of the materials sine die.

It was learned that the actions of the thugs resulted in a tense atmosphere following sporadic shootings at the Head Office of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the state.

An eyewitness who spoke to newsmen on condition of anonymity said the clash between the suspected supporters of the two major parties took place around the Ikpoba River, about 700 metres from INEC head office.

He alleged that several persons sustained various degrees of bullet wounds.

Ibom Focus recalls that the inspection of the electoral materials used for the September 21, 2024 governorship election, which was billed to commence on Wednesday, could not take place as planned following an objection raised by the APC against the inspection.

The party had insisted that the exercise should commence with the voter register and not with the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS.

The party further argued that since they were served with the schedule a few minutes before the inspection, they did not come for the inspection with their copy of the registered voters, hence, the exercise was adjourned to Thursday.

However, trouble started on Thursday when the exercise was about to commence as APC, through its Edo State Chairman, Emperor Jarrett Tenebe, drew the attention of the INEC Director of Operations to a petition, alleging that BVAS machines and voter registers were on Wednesday brought into the INEC complex with vehicles from the state government house.

Tenebe contended, amongst others, that the party’s petition should be addressed before commencing the inspection of materials, an argument that was sternly objected to by representatives of PDP who insisted on the commencement of material inspection.

The representatives of PDP opined that the petition being frivolous, baseless and lacking in truth cannot supersede a valid court order and called for the commencement of the inspection.

Following the inability of the two parties to agree on the way forward, INEC adjourned the inspection sine die.

Speaking to journalists shortly after the adjournment, counsel to APC, Victor Ohionsumua, said that the party would only return for the inspection of the materials when their petition is addressed.

According to him, this morning, (Thursday), we submitted a petition to the state INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Onuoha Anugbum, the Commissioner of Police and Department of State Services, DSS, in Edo that we noticed and saw BVAS machines and voters’ register entering INEC complex a few days ago with Edo State Government vehicles.

“And on the basis of that, we raised the objection that the petition has to be determined first before we can go ahead with the inspection of the materials. The INEC legal officer wanted to go ahead with the inspection without any directives from the state REC

“We insisted that we must hear from the REC and our petition must be determined before we move forward. In the process, the place (INEC office) became rowdy and we started hearing gunshots outside the complex.

“The INEC Director of Operations then said that because of security reasons, as our lives are in danger, he decided to adjourn the inspection sine die and he has not told us to come back tomorrow (Friday),” he said.

Also speaking, the factional Chairman of the Labour Party, LP, in the state, Kelly Ogbaloi, maintained that the atmosphere at the state INEC head office was not conducive for the inspection to commence.

Ogbaloi said: “The experience here is a total melee and not a conducive atmosphere for which an exercise of that kind can take place. It is in my view, therefore, that the agency and the political parties concerned must come together and look at what they can do to ensure that the exercise is conducted

“For me, a level playing field should be given to those who are contesting the outcome of the election. In order that we can get to a platform that is acceptable to the generality of the people of Edo State.

“For today, there is a total disagreement between APC and PDP and I am not sure any exercise can happen here today.”