By Nathan Nwakamma
Some residents in Yenagoa besieged the Bayelsa headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission Commission (INEC) to protest non availability of materials and adhoc staff at the Atissa and Epie polling units.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that police operatives stationed at the INEC office fired sporadically into the air to scare away the protesters to no avail.
The shooting started when the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alex Hart, arrived scene and tried to address the crowd.
The security operatives with him tried to disperse the crowd.
The protesters claimed that they were not given the right to vote as there are no visible INEC staff at Imgbi , Azikoro, Kpansia, Okaka and down to Opolo.
One of the protesters, Joseph Kiama, said no election materials in the whole of Kpansia and elections had been cancelled.
NAN learnt that trouble started earlier when some voters at Ward 3 Epie protested their inability to vote due to delay in the arrival of voting materials.
The Commissioner of Police, Ben Okolo, had to wade in and pleaded for calm.
Addressing the restless crowd, he said: “I have called and spoken to INEC office. They have assured me that very soon the expected materials would be brought,” he said.
Okolo appealed that everyone should remain calm.
But the commissioner’s plea fell on deaf ears as the protesters later marched to the commission where security was beefed up to prevent their getting access to the facility.
One of the protesters, who identified himself as John, said: “We left our homes so as to exercise our franchise only to be denied the opportunity. We must be allowed to vote,” he said. (NAN)
