Heavily-armed policemen on Monday blocked the entrance of the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, following a protest by the Peoples Democratic Party members.
Over 1000 members of the party and their supporters had stormed the INEC office along Aba Road in Port Harcourt, demanding the commission to allow a joint inspection of election materials by political parties ahead of the election petitions tribunal sitting.
The armed operatives, including police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps stationed patrol vehicles in front of the INEC office to prevent any damage to the facility.
The protest paralysed vehicular activities from the Waterlines area through to the GRA area of Aba Road in the metropolis.
The protesters marched through Aba Road displaying placards with several inscriptions such as, “Police have no power under the Electoral Act to declare results. We will resist it.”, “The joint inspection of materials is our right. We are ready,” among others.
Following the protest, commuters were seeing trekking long distances to the get to their destinations, while commercial vehicles and private cars made a detour.
Speaking, the chairman of Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state, Dr. Samhel Nwanosike, said the inspection must be done by all parties involved.
Nwanosike stated, “We are putting other political parties on notice. Rivers people have decided to keep watch n this INEC headquarters.
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