Barely thirty minutes after the commencement of the Governorship primary election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the banquet hall of the Government House Gombe, the exercise came to an abrupt halt following the eruption of violence.
It took the intervention of security operatives who tried to calm frayed nerves as the peaceful atmosphere degenerated to violence.
Trouble started when a top Government official (names withheld) was sited trying to manipulate the process in favour of one of the aspirants.
The action which didn’t go down well with other opponents and delegates resulted in all the ballot boxes being destroyed by an angry mob.
Earlier, one of the aspirants was sited publicly confronting Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo over perceived irregularities against him and even succeeded in taking him to an office within the banquet hall.
Our correspondent gathered that not all the aspirants were comfortable with the venue for fear of Government manipulation.
As at the time of filing this report, the electoral committee which had gone into a closed door meeting were still incommunicado.
