2 SECURITY PERSONNELS KILLED AND 20 INEC STAFFS ABDUCTED

By Bashir Bello
KATSINA Election – Two security personnel on election duties for the governorship and state house of assembly elections in Katsina State have been reportedly killed.

A man places his ballot paper in a ballot box at polling unit in Lagos on March 9, 2019. – Nigerians are voting for a second time in a fortnight in governorship and state assembly elections, with heightened concerns from observers of violence and an increased military presence. Elections for governors are being held in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states, for all state assemblies, plus the administrative councils in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja. (Photo AFP)This was as about 20 staffs of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in the state were reportedly said to have been abducted in Danmusa Local government area with 10 out of 20 later resurfacing.

A reliable source in the INEC office confirmed the development said the incident occurred while the election was in progress.

The source who spoke on condition of anonymity said the two security personnel were of the Nigeria Police force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp, NSCDC and were killed at Danmusa and Kankara local government areas of the state respectively.

As at the time of filing in this report, a visit by our reporter to the INEC office saw the officials rushing out to receive and deposit one of the corpse, NSCDC officer, in the Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Katsina.

Danmusa and Kankara were among the nine front line local government areas with high cases of insecurity and sharing borders with Zamfara State.