Monday, November 17, 2014

Two injured as thugs storm PVC registration centre


Two people were injured and several vehicles vandalised at the venue of the on-going permanent voters’ card (PVC) registration exercise, at the Balogun area of Lagos Island on Saturday.

Eye witness account claimed that the hoodlums, numbering about 15, allegedly stormed one of the venues of the exercise with dangerous weapons and chased the people away from registering.
The hoodlums, who stormed the centre some minutes to 2pm, were said to have told the Independent Electoral Commission to (INEC) officials to register them as they could not wait under the sun.
An INEC official had tried to reason with them, but they kept insisting that they wanted to be registered even before those they met on ground.
A resident, Kamal Lawal said he was yet to be registered when the fight broke out.
He said: “I and some other residents had waited at the registration centre for long without been attended to. When it was almost my turn, the hoodlums came from nowhere and disrupted the whole exercise.” 
Lawal added that (INEC) should provide security for their agents, “because of peculiar places like Lagos Island where fight can easily broke out at the slightest provocation.” 
 Another witness, Mr. Ayinde Jibril said: “I and my wife were not spare as two of the suspected hoodlums attacked us when we were trying to escape from the venue of the registration. When the hoodlums stormed the venue, they were chasing people away with dangerous weapons and charm. How I wish you were there to see their unruly behaviour.
“I and my wife only went to the centre to register for the new voters’ cards, only for me to sustain this injury on my neck and my face while trying to escape. We’re tired of this callous attitude of these hoodlums! Governor Babatunde Fashola and the State Commissioner of Police should come to our rescue.”
Mrs. Bashirat Jubril   said: “I was running for safety, one of the hoodlums ran after me and hit me a plank, unmindful of the fact that my baby was strapped at my back.”

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