Thugs attack Cross River collection center, destroy election materials and beat up officers

Thugs invaded the Independent National Electoral Commission’s collection center for Ogoja constituency in Cross River and destroyed election materials.

The thugs, who stormed the center on Sunday, March 19, 2023, also took away phones, beat up numerous neighborhood collation officers and disrupted the collation of results.

According to PUNCHtrouble started when Nkum Irede’s results were announced and some party agents did not accept the numbers.

It was also found that the Nkum Irede ward result was seventh out of 10 wards in Ogoja Local Government Area and the People’s Democratic Party was clearly in the lead.

Mbube East 1 collation officer Dr Paul Bassey Inyang who was attacked said the thugs numbered more than 30, adding that his laptop and duplicate result sheets had all been destroyed .

“A colleague of mine is still being treated in the theater and I pray he comes out alive as heavy rocks and planks were used against him,” Dr Inyang said.

Ogoja Local Government Area Electoral Officer Mr. Peter Kolo said the thugs broke through all the security barriers to disrupt the filing and destroy the election results.

“As I speak to you, we have retrieved all BVAS results and results uploaded to the portal and will soon resume announcing results from the remaining three services,” he said.

Ogoja Constituency Ranking Officer Dr Timothy Ellah said he was beaten by thugs who took away results sheets, adding that he suffered minor injuries.

“We have, however, collected all results and are ready to resume announcing results,” he said.

Ogoja Local Government Collation Officer, Professor John Undie, said they were lucky to have survived the attack, adding that everyone inside the hall had been beaten.

He, however, praised the police for deploying more officers to repel the invaders.

State Police Command spokeswoman Irene Ugbo, who confirmed the attack, adding that the suspected thugs have been arrested.