IT was a free for all in Kaduna Thursday as a ward congress of the All Progressives Congress in the state turned bloody leaving scores of party men and women injured.
Trouble started when hoodlums hijacked ballot boxes at the long awaited ward congress meant to elect leaders at the ward levels for the party in the state.
The hoodlums used such dangerous weapons as knives, sticks and matchetes freely at the congress.
The development led to some party men and women sustaining varying degrees of injuries.
The case of the Local Education Authority Primary School, Malali in Kaduna North Local Government, venue of the ward congress in the area, was different as the violence there was of high magnitude.
A victim, Mr. Sunday Dauda, told our correspondent that though he was not a card-carrying member of the APC but decided to go to the congress venue because of his brother who is a member of the party.
He explained that he was shocked “when I saw my brother in a drench of blood he sustained from a mob attack.”
Dauda said as he tried to save his brother from the hands of some party thugs, he got his own share of the beating.
As of the time of filing this report, Dauda and his brother were receiving treatment at the Malali Hospital in the state capital.
An official of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kaduna North Local Government, Hajia Aisha Umar, said they watched helplessly when thugs carted away the ballot box while some went after them.
Umar, who was detailed to supervise the ward congress at Malali, said, “We are all watching as the voting materials were all put into a box and from nowhere some hoodlums just ran into the crowd and snatched the ballot box but others ran after them and cut off one of the arms of the man who was running away with ballot box.
“I have to run for my life to a safe place and we left our Honda car with number plate AE 793 HKY behind and when we came back we saw that all the car windscreen had been smashed.
“As I am talking to you, I have not come to reality of what happened and as an INEC official I can confidently tell you that there was no convention but rather gathering of hoodlums and thugs who came to wreck havoc on innocent people.”
Some of the hoodlums were however arrested by the military that were keeping vigil to forestall breakdown of law and order in the state.
A security official, who would not want his names in print because he was not permitted to speak on the issue, maintained that several arrests had been made.
He added that those arrested had been taken to an undisclosed destination for questioning.
Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relation Officer in the state, Aminu Lawan, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP, blamed the incidence on the activities of thugs at the venue of the congress.
Lawan noted that security agents were on top of the situation, warning that politicians should abide by the rules of the game so as not to jeopardise the relative peace in the state.
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