BEVERLY HILLS, December 05, (THEWILL) – It was a free-for-all on Thursday in Oshimili South Arcade, venue of the Delta State governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Trouble started a few hours after Emerhor O’tega was declared winner of the contest which however was greeted by protest from Emerhor’s co-contender, Mr. Fidelis Tilijie.
Tilijie had staged a walk out on the electoral panel following alleged sharp practices by the Emerhor group.
THEWILL can report that there were skirmishes midway to the sorting of the results.
Aggrieved youths loyal to Emerhor had alleged that monies purportedly used to induce each delegate to vote Emerhor were confiscated by the party chairman of Warri South West.
Irked by the development, the visibly aggrieved youths attacked the chairman with clubs and plastic chairs while the governorship aspirant Mr. Emerhor O’tega, APC state chairman, Prophet Jones Erueh, party leaders were said to have watched helplessly from afar before security men came to the rescue.
“The youths were mercilessly tortured with guns and other weapons by the security men and were forcefully asked to lie down on the ground before they were handcuffed and taken away to an unknown destination”, an eyewitness told THEWILL.
Meanwhile, the aggrieved Tilijie has accused his opponent, Mr. Emerhor O’tega, of campaigning during the primary right inside the venue.
He said the whole exercise has already been manipulated and as such he won’t participate in such contest.
“The whole exercise is a charade, how can my opponent, Emerhor , be campaigning right inside the venue and nobody, not even some of the party leaders, present could call him to order and that was an indication that the whole exercise has been manipulated.
“As for me, this is not a primary election, this is not the kind of change we are all clamouring for.
“The delegates for the primary were not supposed to be more than 4, 000 but what was on ground was more than the expected 4, 000. I am very disappointed with our party leaders. Its unfortunate” Tilijie lamented.
Before staging a protest and staging the walk out, Tilijie said whatever results emanated from the ‘charade’ governorship primaries stands rejected and vowed to challenge what he called manipulated results in a competent court of law.
Emerhor O’tega couldn’t be reached immediately for comment but one of his close supporters said the skirmishes that broke out in the Arcade has nothing to do with the smooth conduct of the election, adding that the election was already well conducted under the watch of all party delegates and Emerhor already on the winning side when the fight broke out.
