On Saturday evening, violence erupted at the Igwuruta axis of Rivers’ Ikwerre local government area, as angry youths took to the streets to protest an alleged attempt to tamper with the presidential election results.
According to reports, protesting youths fired sporadic shots and vandalized vehicles of motorists traveling along the busy Igwuruta-Elele-Airport Road in Rivers State’s Ikwerre local government area.
It was learned that trouble began when results from polling units in the area began to trickle in and a particular presidential candidate appears to have an advantage over a candidate who the youths claimed they voted for.
In a viral video, a motorist claims that angry youths vandalized his vehicle’s windscreen as well as its front and rear lights when he ran into them on his way back from voting in his village.
He said the angry youths who were shooting sporadically alleged that a prominent politician in Ikwerre local government area carted away ballot boxes at the collation centre to frustrate further declaration of results.
According to traumatized Vehicle owner: “I was just coming back from where I went to cast my vote when I ran into angry youths who claimed the ballot boxes in their area were snatched when Peter Obi was winning. When I saw that they were shooting sporadically, I parked my car. But they still vandalized it. They should allow whoever is winning to win.
“I appealed to them to go after whoever carried the ballot boxes containing their votes and stop destroying cars of innocent people but to no avail.”
Asked what he wants the government to do, he said, “They should allow whoever is winning to win and let the Votes of be count.”
It was gathered that the Igwurita axis, and most areas in Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state are reeling from violence as at the time of filing this report.
When contacted on the development, SP Grace Iringe-Koko, the Spokesperson of the Rivers State Police Command said she was not aware of the incident, but would find out.
At the time of filing this report about 8.46 pm the violence is ongoing, the lives and property of travelers along the Igwuruta-Elele-Airport Road are at risk.
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