Ten supporters of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State were yesterday arrested with seven AK47 rifles at Agwan Mangu unit 032 in Chiroma ward of Lafia Local Government Area of the state.

Witnesses told Sunday Tribune that the APC members, who concealed the rifles and other dangerous weapons in their three vehicles, were moving from one unit to another within Chiroma ward, disguising as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials, with a view to causing unrest and snatching ballot boxes, if they discovered that eligible voters were not voting for APC.

They were apprehended during stop and search on Jos/Lafia road in Lafia, the state capital, when security operatives searched their three vehicles, having told the security personnel that they were on election duty.

The accreditation for the re-run election for Lafia/Obi federal constituency, which had earlier commenced peacefully without hitches, later turned violence, when APC supporters began to humiliate eligible voters.

One of the voters, who did not want his name in print, alleged that many APC supporters besieged unit 032 with fake Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs).

According to another voter, Salihu, “Many APC women, whose units are not here, but because they used hijab in their PVCs, came here with their cohorts to cast their votes”.

Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ismaila Numan, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), said on phone that he was out of the state for an official assignment.

It would be recalled that INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Alhaji Abdullahi Danyaya, announced that the result of the election for Lafia/Obi federal constituency was inconclusive, hence, the need for a re-run in 71 units of Chiroma ward, where discrepancies had been noticed.

•Adapted from Sunday Tribune.

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