Widespread violence was reported in the Oshodi and Itire areas of Lagos State as scores of armed thugs besieged some polling units, setting ballot papers and boxes on fire.

Some of the thugs went as far as snatching ballot boxes and fleeing with such.

The thugs who were all dressed in black and masked, arrived the area around 11.30 am on Saturday.

Some voters, who could not run away when the thugs arrived were injured.

Sources said the armed thugs, later went round the area, minutes after some security personnel on election duty left their duty post.

According to Tajudeen Haruna, minutes later, the thugs opened fire and scared voters away.

“It was later that the thugs set the ballot box and some materials on fire,” he said.

Similarly, some thugs stormed Itire area, around 12pm, scaring away voters from the different polling units in the area.

James Nwoke, alleged that it was a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise non-indigenes in the state.

Meanwhile, there is heavy military and police presence within the Lagos metropolis on Saturday to forestall breakdown of law and order.

At the same time, young men converted the Agege motor Road as well as Apapa-Oshodi, Okota and some parts of Ago palace way into football pitches.

There is also palpable tension in most parts of Ago, Isolo and Ire-Akri following the inability of some voters to locate their polling units.

At PU 040 on Ladele Dada Street, Ikate Surulere, Lagos, there is apprehension amonthe voters.

They are worried over reports of ballot boxes being snatched. They have ordered the guards to lock the gates leading to the venue.

“At least, when they come they will meet some resistance,” the guard who locked the gate said. “Before they can attack us, we will respond with what we have,”added.

There is no Policeman no soldier at this polling unit and the one at the other end of the street.

“Ballot boxes have just been snatched on Idowu Street, around Karonwi side,” one of the men at the venue , told Daily Trust. From OU 040 to Idowu Street is about 5 KMS. 

The the voters said they are determined to stay at the venue until the votes are counted.

There are reports of the destruction of election materials in some units in Etim Ekpo. 

Tyres of vehicles conveying election materials reportedly deflated at Uruan Anwa junction.

Voting has been disrupted in some polling units in Akwa Ibom State over the alleged destruction of election materials by party agents. 

It was gathered that some party agents instigated fracas in Unit 1, ward 10, Ikot Ebom primary school, Itu local government area, Akwa Ibom state that halted the voting exercise.  

It was said that trouble started when agents of the PDP in the unit only allowed PDP supporters to vote while those they believed were not in support of the PDP were blocked from voting.

In an attempt to fight back, the suspected PDP members allegedly overpowered the voters, causing pandemonium which made the voters scamper for safety.

Following the fracas, the corp members who are INEC ad-hoc staff parked the election materials and stood in a corner waiting for the next line of action.

The situation in Kogi State was so terrible that a young man who was said to have completed his National Youth Service last year but chose to be political thugs, was gunned down in Dekina LGA, Saturday.

This was just as I was reported that the state government dug trenches across some roads in Okehi LGA in the state.

In Anambra State, voting suffered great hitch in Ihiala LGA ostensibly due to threats by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) to kill anyone found coming out to vote.

Incidentally, even as the electorates defied their threat and came out in their numbers, INEC officials could not arrive for voting as at press time, 12 noon.

In Rivers state, there were reports of thugs threatening people who would not vote a particular political party to move out of the polling unit, just as thugs tied the emblem of a political party in a polling unit, while ordering those who they presume would not vote for the party out of the area.

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, had acknowledged there were flashpoints when he addressed the media in Abuja earlier Saturday.