THERE have been reports of violence in parts of Kano State where a supplementary gubernatorial election is currently ongoing.
Armed thugs are reported to have dispersed voters in Minjibir and Nasarawa local government areas of the state. Journalists, as well as election observers, were reported to have been attacked.
Kadaria Ahmed, a popular broadcast journalist, shared a video on her Twitter handle showing people scampering for safety. She wrote: “The news coming out of Kano is disheartening. We are hearing of armed thugs attacking voters and disrupting the polls.
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This video is out of Minjibir where voting was allegedly disrupted by armed thugs.”
The news coming out of Kano is disheartening. We are hearing of armed thugs attacking voters and disrupting the polls This video is out of Minjibir where voting was allegedly disrupted by armed thugs #NigeriaDecides2019 @inecnigeria @MBuhari @thecableng @PremiumTimesng pic.twitter.com/gaCPrm9H7b
— Kadaria Ahmed 🇳🇬 (@KadariaAhmed) March 23, 2019
She also shared photos of some injured men, apparently in the election violence, saying that someone from Kano sent the images to her.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) also reported that a journalist working with the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) was attacked in Minjibir, his camera destroyed and his car smashed.
Locals who spoke to reporters said they were not allowed to vote.
“The situation is very bad and this is not how to conduct an election where people or voters are denied the opportunity to vote,” NAN quoted Aminu Tijjani, a resident in the area as saying.
In Nasarawa LGA, thugs wearing shirts with the picture of one of the governorship candidates disrupted voting at Suntulma Gama Primary School and sent voters away from the polling units.
The Kano guber election was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) because the number of cancelled votes in several polling units was higher than the margin of lead between Governor Umar Ganduje and Abba Kabiru Yusuf, candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) respectively.
Before the election was declared inconclusive, Kabiru-Yusuf was in the lead with 1,014,477 votes, while Ganduje was trailing with 987,810 votes.
Asides Kano, supplementary gubernatorial elections are also holding in Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Plateau and Sokoto States.