Shooting at primary election shows PDP do-or-die politics, says Bello

Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello Wednesday said the violent disruption of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) governorship primary election was an expression of the party’s ideology for a ‘do-or-die’ politics.

Bello expressed disappointment with the shootings at Lokoja Confluence Stadium. He stated that such acts were an affront to the security of lives and properties.

The governor, having secured the return ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest reelection, accused the opposition party of undermining the primary achievement of his administration in security.

He attributed the violence to “the usual do-or-die politics of some of the opposition aspirants whose desperation to win led to so violence and crises in the state.”

The PDP governorship primary election, which started on Tuesday, ended abruptly in the early hours of Wednesday when gunmen invaded the venue.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that voting had ended and the sorting of votes was ongoing when unknown gunmen arrived at the venue at about 1:45 a.m. and shot at different directions.

NAN said votes in eight out of the 10 ballot boxes were already counted and sorted out before the disruption.

Aspirants, delegates and others scampered to safety. Adamawa State governor and chairman of the Electoral Committee Ahmadu Fintiri reportedly escaped bullets of gunshots by the gunmen.

The state governor opined that the incident portends “grave danger to the state’s gubernatorial elections scheduled for November 16″ and directed security agencies to get to the roots of the matter immediately.”

He asked PDP to emulate the conduct of the APC which held its primary elections without the occurrence of violence.