The APC governorship candidate in the March 18th governorship election, Tonye Cole, has been wounded as the supporters of both in his neck as supporters of both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) clashed in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Many others were also wounded in the fight.
Earlier, some members of the PDP had protested in front of the office of the Independent
The APC, led by its governorship candidate, had last Friday said they would storm the INEC office on Monday to demand the release of certified true copies of documents used for the March 18 governorship election to enable the party file processes at the election petition tribunal.
While the PDP protest festered, Cole in company of the state APC Chairman, Emeka Beke, and other party leaders showed up at the GRA axis of Aba Road and was proceeding to the INEC office when the protesters sighted him.
The protesting youths pelted him with stones and sachets of water.
Security operatives attached to Cole immediately shielded and whisked him into the vehicle, but the protesters continued hauling objects at his direction.
Within seconds, soldiers of the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army, operatives of the Nigeria Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps arrived and shot into the air to disperse the protesters.
An eyewitness said one of the security men attached to Cole fired the shot which hit one of the protesters who was advancing toward him.
The man bled profusely on the floor due to the gunshot to his leg. His friends later took him to a hospital.
Sensing that the PDP supporters were more, Cole’s security details took him away from the scene, while the APC supporters scampered to safety.
Normalcy was yet to fully return to the GRA Junction near the INEC office in Port Harcourt as at the time of this report.
