Bayelsa poll: Soldiers arrest ballot box snatching suspects

Bayelsa poll: Soldiers arrest ballot box snatching
suspects
.
Two persons suspected to be agents of one of the
political parties involved in Saturday’s supplementary
governorship election in Bayelsa State have been
arrested for allegedly snatching a ballot box.
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The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the suspects
were arrested by soldiers at Otuokpoti Unit 1, Ward
2, Ogbia Local Government Area, where the box was
allegedly snatched.
.
The suspects were said to have forcefully carried the
ballot box while polling was ongoing at the unit.
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The incident caused pandemonium at the unit, but
after the suspects were taken away, accreditation and
voting resumed.
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An Independent National Electoral Commission
official in the ward, who did not want to be named,
confirmed that security reinforcement had been sent
to the area and that election would continue.
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A member of the security team in the ward said the
suspects would be taken to Yenagoa, the state capital,
while investigation would be carried out on the
incident.
However, Police in the state said they were yet to
receive report on the incident.
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The spokesman of the Bayelsa State Police
Command, Asinim Butswat, a Deputy Superintendent
of Police, said it was possible that such incident
occurred in the polling area, but that the command
had not received report on it.
Butswat, however, told NAN that the situation was
calm in most polling units where the election was
being conducted.
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NAN reports that the supplementary election in the
state is holding in Southern Ijaw Local Government
Area and in 101 polling units in other parts of the
state where the December 5, 2015 governorship poll
was cancelled due to violence.
According to Butswat, reports from the units indicate
that all is calm.
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He said: “The command has done necessary
deployments to all polling units.
“In most units, accreditation and voting have
commenced and it has been peaceful so far.
“Our men are on ground and are on top of the
situation.”
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NAN