APC Senate Primary: Protest mars electoral process in Nasarawa-West

A violent protest disrupted the All Progressive Congress (APC) Nasarawa-West senatorial primary election that was held on Sunday to elect a candidate for the 2023 elections.

It was reported that youths at the venue of the election in Keffi Local Government Area of the state broke through security barriers on Sunday night and attacked electoral officials.

The youths were infuriated at the alleged alterations to the delegates list by party officials.

The delegates were expected to vote for one of the two aspirants seeking the party’s ticket.

It was reported that some of the youths, who were supporting Mr Labaran Magaji against his opponent, Mr Shehu Tukur, began to raise objections over delegates being accredited at 6 p.m.

As their objections were ignored, the angry youths managed to breach the security arrangement by until 9:55 p.m. to confront the electoral officials.

During the confrontation, the youths became violent, a development that made the security operatives to fire tear gas canisters and gun shots in the air to disperse them and protect the electoral officials and aspirants at the venue.

Speaking on the development, Magaji blamed the incident on the alteration of the original delegates list.

He said that he had advised the electoral officials to suspend the polls, an advice which was turned down and which prompted the angry youths to violently breach the security arrangement.

He advised his supporters to remain calm while legal means would be employed to resolve the matter.

It was reported that during the melee, security operatives managed to evacuate the electoral officials and journalists from the venue.