Police debunk reports of gunmen attacking polling units in Anambra

<p>Gunmen cart away ballot boxes<br &sol;>&NewLine;In the ongoing Anambra governorship election&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife<&sol;a>&comma; earlier&comma; reported that insiders in PDP are saying that there are emerging issues in the election saying gunmen stormed a polling unit&comma; scared people and voters away&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The story titled &OpenCurlyQuote;Anambra decides&colon; <strong>Gunmen attack polling unit&comma; Cart-Away Ballot Boxes<&sol;strong>’ stated that unidentified gunmen reportedly attacked a polling unit in Ekwulobia&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The information which was obtained from PDP Twitter handle reads&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Unidentified gunmen&comma; on Saturday&comma; attacked the polling unit at Immaculate Heart&comma; Ekwulobia in the Aguata local government area of Anambra State carting away ballot boxes and other election materials&period;<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em>The gunmen&comma; it was gathered&comma; had unleashed terror on party agents and officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission&comma; bringing the voting exercise to a halt&period;<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em>The Peoples Democratic Party on Saturday confirmed this on its Twitter handle also&period;<&sol;em><br &sol;>&NewLine;<em>The PDP tweet reads&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;In Aguata LGA&comma; Immaculate Heart Ekwulobia&period; Unidentified armed men have invaded the polling unit&comma; attacked party agents&comma; electoral officers and made away with the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;punchng&period;com&sol;">ballot boxes<&sol;a> and other electoral materials&period; Voting has been cancelled&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>However and conversely&comma; the Anambra Police Command has claimed it is unaware of such development&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In a statement obtained by OpenLife&comma; the Police described the report as ”False and unfounded&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;The Police statement titled &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<strong>Re&colon; Gunmen Attack Polling Unit&comma; Cart Away Ballot Boxes&&num;8230&semi;&period; Report&comma;” False and unfounded&period;<&sol;strong>” And signed by DSP Nwode Nkeiruka&comma; Head&comma;Police Media Team&comma; 2021 Anambra Gubernatorial Election&comma; reads in full&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The attention of the Anambra State Police Command has been drawn to a report published on an online media platform&comma; <strong>Openlife&period;Ng<&sol;strong> which purported that unknown gunmen invaded a polling unit at Ekwulobia in Aguata LGA of Anambra State and carted away voting materials&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The Command wishes to categorically dismiss the allegation as such an incident didn&&num;8217&semi;t occur anywhere in Anambra State in the course of the ongoing gubernatorial election&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>We therefore urge the public to disregard the publication and any other rumour about violence in the State&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>In view of the foregoing&comma; the Deputy Inspector General of Police&comma; DIG Zaki Ahmed reassures Ndi Anambra and residents that the Police are alive to their responsibility of protecting lives and property of the people&comma; moreover at this time of state’s gubernatorial poll&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>He reassured that the police are committed to providing unbiased security services to everyone irrespective of their social&comma; religious or political underpinnings as he condemned in the strongest of terms efforts of purveyors of fake news who are bent on misleading members of the public against the calm polling atmosphere the state enjoys&period;”<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;