A young man simply identified as Akayama has been gunned down at Anyigba, in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State.
The victim was killed by thugs who invaded the town to cart away electoral materials.
The incident happened at about 11am on Saturday. The thugs took over the town, shooting sporadically and carting away electoral materials from different polling units.
The deceased who the locals claimed to be a graduate of Economics from the Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba was shot dead at a polling unit in Iji-Anyigba.
Daily Trust had reported how thugs chased away voters from polling units at Dekina, Agbeji, Ajiolo, Abejukolo and Ejule communities.
According to Usman Adejo, a resident of Abocho, the thugs announced their presence at about 8pm on Friday, with sporadic shootings
“We stayed indoors for fears of stray bullets. After about two hours of shooting, the sound died down and that was when military men came to the town around 11pm,” Adejo said.
“Nothing has been heard this morning yet. But people are scared of coming out to go for accreditation and voting,” he had earlier said.
Daily Trust gathered that it was when the detachment of soldiers stationed at Ejule, a flash point in the east of Kogi got winds of the shooting incident that they rushed to the communities.
Residents of Agojeju- Ejule community also said that political thugs invaded the town on Saturday morning, shooting sporadically to scare them away from coming out to vote.
However, the chairman of Kogi East Neighborhood Watch (KEWN), a community policing outfit, Surgeon Commodore Ahmed Abdullahi (rtd), appealed to the politicians in the areas to call their supporters to order to ensure a free and fair election.
He said the communities of Kogi east had got enough of electoral violence in the past which had brought sorrow and pains to the inhabitants.
“Let us speak a better narrative this time around. Call your supporters to order for a peaceful election,” Commodore Abdullahi said.
Kogi state police command’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP William Aya, did not respond to call and text messages at the time of this report.
