Violence marred the ward congresses of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) held today in various parts of the country. In Delta State, the exercise started on a bloody note as a ward chairmanship aspirant, Jeremiah Oghoveta, was stabbed to death.

Although the exercise had not commenced in several places as at the time of filing this report, as a result of some alleged irregularities, the places where it had commenced were varied in experiences.

Speaking on the exercise while voting in his Evwreni ward 8 of Ughelli South, the leader of the party in the state, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, said the party had a consensus candidate and it was peaceful.

He said APC was poised to entrench the principle of internal democracy in order to have a stronger party that could take over the state in 2019.

He added that based on the reports he had got concerning the Saturday exercise, things went on smoothly and peacefully, saying his Friday’s call for a peaceful and participatory Congresses was heeded to.

At Okwagbe community, Jeremi 3 in Ughelli South ward 10, Oghoveta, who was contesting the chairmanship seat of the party in the ward was stabbed to death by one Tete Pippah after an argument that ensued from allegations of the hijacking of materials by a side involved in the process.

Matters went bad when Oghoveta disagreed with some other party members, asking why materials would be hijacked. He was leaving the scene when his attacker stabbed him in the neck and fled the spot, leaving him dead.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the Delta state police command, Andrew Aniamaka (DSP), confirmed the incident, adding that the command had already started an investigation into the incidence as well as commenced moves to arrest Pippah, who was already on the run.

Meanwhile, as at the time of filing this report, the exercise was being stalled due to non-availability of materials to conduct the exercise. Although many of the centres in Delta Central had taken the initiative to conduct provisional elections, aimed at saving time and energies of voters.

In Adamawa and Oyo states, the ward congresses were postponed over violence.

In Adamawa, it has been postponed to Sunday, May 6, 2018.

The chairman of the Congress says the postponement will provide equal opportunities for all members of the party interested in picking nomination forms to do so and return to their wards.

The postponement came after the Congress degenerated into a chaotic session when a group with some top members of the party was denied nomination forms.

Members were asked to provide evidence of payment for each person within the group as no form will be sold in bulk.

The development almost turned the secretariat to a rowdy session.

Also in Oyo State, the APC has postponed its ward congress to Sunday after a violence that disrupted the secretariat before the commencement of the exercise.

In Imo State, chaos resulted over alleged hijack of congress committee members.

All factions stormed the Police state headquarters to resolve the issues with heavy security presence at the police premises.

It’s alleged that there was a swap between Anambra and Imo congress committee members sent from Abuja.

Earlier in the day, there was no congress activity in all the wards as the APC Chairman in the state Hilary Eke called for an emergency stakeholders meeting scheduled to hold before the congress began.

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