Eight persons, armed with four locally made guns, 33 live cartridges and charms hidden in bags of garri, were arrested by the police at Uya Oron in Oron Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State during the Presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday.

Commissioner of Police of Akwa Ibom State Command, Gabriel Achong, confirmed this to newsmen in Uyo, the state capital on Sunday.

He added that nine other suspected political thugs were arrested on the eve of the elections in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area of the state, while preparing to cause mayhem during the elections.

The arrested hoodlums, he also said, are presently making useful statements to the police.

Achong disclosed that over 9,000 policemen were deployed across the state and commended the citizens of the state for “conducting themselves in a very peaceful and orderly manner during the elections.”

Meanwhile, the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mr. Austin Okojie, has described the outcome of the elections in Akwa Ibom as “exceptionally peaceful,” in spite of the emotions raised by the failure of the card readers device in some polling areas.

Okojie, who disclosed that more than 15 local government areas in the state have collated and completed their results, added: “The results have been successfully brought to the state INEC headquarters awaiting final actions.”

He maintained that “whenever the results of the remaining Local Government Areas are returned and the final collations concluded, the official results will be promptly announced and the winners declared to all,” warning that “any unauthorised and illegal announcement of the election results by the social media or any other incompetent source, should be completely disregarded and ignored.”

•Photo shows CP, Akwa Ibom