19th March, 2023
By Ehigimetor Igbaugba
Hoodlums armed with guns and machetes on Sunday disrupted the announcement of the results House of Assembly election into the Ogoja constituency of Cross River House of Assembly.
The hoodlums attacked the Ogoja Local Government office being used by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as collation center for the constituency.
INEC had already announced the election results of seven out of the 10 wards for Ogoja Assembly seat when the hoodlums attacked the collation centre.
The Local Government Collation Officer, Dr Paul Bassey who was injured during the attack and rushed to hospital, described the incident as “barbaric”.
Bassey said that his laptop and duplicate result sheets were destroyed during the attack.
“One of my colleagues is still being treated in the theatre and and I pray he comes out alive as heavy stones and planks were used on him,” he said.
The Electoral Officer for Ogoja Local Government, Mr Peter Kolo said the hoodlums broke security barriers at the collation centre with the intent of destroying the election results.
“As I speak with you, we have recovered all the results from both the BVAS and uploaded results in the portal and we will soon resume announcing the results from the three remaining wards,” Kolo said.
The State Constituency Collation Officer, Dr Timothy Ellah of the University of Calabar said he was beaten by the thugs and sustained injury in the process.
“We have however recovered all the results and we are ready to resume announcing the results,” Ellah said.
Spokesperson of the Police Command in Cross River, SP Irene Ugbo who confirmed the incident, however said that the situation was quickly brought under control.
Ugbo said most of the hoodlums have been arrested and were being profiled to ascertain the level of their involvement in the attack.