Many injured as PDP, APC supporters clash in Rivers

Many people sustained injuries yesterday as supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) clashed in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Earlier, some members of the PDP protested in front of the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Aba Road in Port Harcourt. The protesters demanded a joint […]

Many people sustained injuries yesterday as supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) clashed in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Earlier, some members of the PDP protested in front of the office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Aba Road in Port Harcourt.

The protesters demanded a joint inspection of election materials used on March 18, by all political parties.

The APC, led by its governorship candidate, last Friday, said they would storm the INEC office on Monday to demand the release of certified true copies of documents used for the March 18, governorship election to enable the party file processes at the election petition tribunal.

Our correspondent who was at the scene reports that while the PDP protest lasted, Cole, in company of the state APC Chairman, Emeka Beke, and other party leaders, showed up at the GRA axis of Aba Road and were proceeding to the INEC office when the protesters sighted him.

The protesting youths raced towards his direction, pelting him with stones and sachets of water. Security operatives attached to Cole shielded him and whisked him into a vehicle, but the protesters continued hauling objects in his direction.

Within seconds, soldiers of the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, operatives of the police and civil defence arrived and shot into the air to disperse the protesters.

A witness told our correspondent that one of the security men attached to Cole fired a shot which hit one of the protesters who was advancing towards him.

He said, “The man bled profusely on the floor due to the gunshot on his leg. His friends later took him to a hospital.”

Sensing that the PDP supporters were more in number, Cole’s security details whisked him away from the scene, while the APC supporters scampered.

As of the time of filing this report, normalcy was yet to fully return to the GRA Junction near the INEC office in Port Harcourt.