A citizen reporter at the scene of the incident, Amadi Henry reports to The Trent that Nigerian soldiers claiming to be acting under orders from minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi have invaded the headquarters of Ikwerre Local Government Area and ordered officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
According to our source, who spoke to our reporter on the phone just before midnight on Friday, March 18, 2016, the troops were led by Captain Amakuru, a soldier who was a star witness for the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the election tribunals.
The soldiers invaded the office of the Local Government Council and ordered the police on duty to vacate the premises. The police resisted the order saying that they are not under the command of the military and were protecting the sensitive INEC electoral materials for the rerun election slated for Saturday, March 19, 2015.
Present at the local government headquarters is the caretaker chairman of Ikwerre LGA, Honourable Samuel Nwanosike and reports say he is being held hostage by troops.
The standoff between the soldiers and the police is still on at the time of filing this report.
We will bring you more updates on this development.
The re-run elections are to fill 2 senatorial seats, 12 seats on the house of representatives, and 22 seats in the Rivers House of Assembly. Elections are taking place in 23 local government areas, 319 wards, and 4,442 polling units.
